


Gravity Falls - Just Left of Center

by Taelon



Series: Gravity Falls - Just Left of Center [1]
Category: Gravity Falls, Left of Center AU
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 17:57:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 186,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14110884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taelon/pseuds/Taelon
Summary: The Pines twins return to Gravity Falls for a new summer, and they are not the only ones.  Old friends, new enemies, and a new adventure awaits in Gravity Falls.





	1. Return to the Falls

As I ran through the grass after Mabel I began to think to myself.  I wondered why, once again, during a summer vacation that should be all about leisure, recreation, and taking it easy this was happening.  Yet, here he was, running wild after a shadow that my sister saw in someone’s backyard.

“Come on Dipper, don’t lose him!” Mabel said as she rounded the corner ahead of me.  Moments later, as I too rounded the corner, I saw my Great Uncle Stanley Pines entering the yard and the shadow fast approaching him.

“Grunkle Stan watch out!”  It took only a second for Mabel’s cry to reach the older man.  He turned in their direction, seeing the shadow rapid approaching him he threw up his arms in defense and let out a shout!

“Oh no, No, NOOO!” The shadow jumped up at Stan.  For a moment it is as if the whole world pauses.  I began to think back to how this all began.  As I think I realize it must have all started a few days ago, back at home in Piedmont.

 

* * *

  

Piedmont, California, that was where Mabel and Dipper lived during the year.  Their house is moderately sized, for what it is worth in Piedmont.  As they get home from their last day of school, the twins were excited as they approached the house.  Waddles runs to Mabel as soon as she enters the yard, greeting her as he always does.  As Dipper goes in he gives her and Waddles a quick glance then opens the door.

Just inside the door Dipper drops his bag.  Just as he is about to announce himself he hears voices coming from the kitchen.  “I’m just not comfortable with this idea as a whole.”  Dipper recognized the voice as that of his dad. 

“Just keep an open mind about it son.  Think of all the good it could do.”  Another man’s responded in a course northeastern accent.

“We understand, but this just isn’t natural.  You know how last year. . .“ The door slams behind Dipper, startling him.  Mabel and Waddles have entered and with a loud slam announced their presence.

“Kids, is that you?  Come say hi to your Grandpa” The Twin’s mother calls out.

“Grandpa Sherman?” Mabel runs to the kitchen to and sees that her parents have gathered around the kitchen table with Sherman sitting on the other end.  Sherman gets up to greet the kids as Mabel jumps into his arms, giving him a big hug. 

“How’s my little shooting star doing?”  Sherman spins around with Mabel as they hug.  As Dipper enters he puts Mabel down and Dipper and Sherman give each other a hug.  “Hey Grandpa Sherman,” Dipper says as he hugs his grandfather.

As they break the hug Dipper gives a slightly confused look at his Grandfather, then his parents.  “So what were you talking about?”

Sherman and Mr. and Mrs. Pines look at each other for a moment.  The silence is deafening.  Sherman looks back at Dipper, as if gathering his courage he gives a quick reply.  “Just stuff us grownups like to talk about from time to time.  Eh, it doesn’t really matter anyway. Either way, are you two excited to go back to Gravity Falls tomorrow?” 

Dipper shifts uncomfortably for a moment.  He knows this tactic, this is redirecting, something was up and they didn’t want to talk about it.  He almost started to push further, instincts built for last year telling him to find out more when Mabel chimed in.

“You bet we are!  I can’t wait to see everyone again like Candy and Grenda and Wendy and Grunkle Stan and Ford and . . .” Mabel says as she counts of the people on her fingers.

“I bet you’re super excited to see Gideon too.” Dipper says as he looks at his sister. 

Mabel stops counting her fingers and gets a super serious look and in a deadpan voice replies “Nope”

The whole room fills with laughter at Mabel’s reaction.  As the laughter die down Sherman kneels on one knee and places his hands on the Twins shoulders.  “Alright you two, how about you go get changed and I’ll take everyone out for dinner and a round of mini golf.”

Mabel smiles from ear to ear.  “YES!”  Mabel shouts and immediately turns around and runs back to the front door to get her things and head upstairs.  Dipper turns to follow as Sherman returns to his seat at the table.  As Dipper nears the stairs he stops, hearing the conversations begin again in the other room, more quietly this time. 

“Dad, I love you but you have to come to your senses on this.  You can’t imagine how this would affect the kids.”  Mr. Pines says. 

 “After all, all of those horrible things that happened last year we barely even agreed to send them up this year.” Mrs. Pines adds.

“Look, at least give it the summer before everything is settled.  You never know what might happen, right?”

“Fine, but Dad, this is the last time and we make no guarantees we will agree to this.”

Sherman, looking slightly satisfied turns his head to see Dipper still in the living room.  He gives Dipper a little wink.  Dipper realizes that is queue to leave and turns to the stairs.

 

A lot like their attic room at the Shack, their room in their house is quaint and roomy.  The twins have a bed each with a large night stand sitting in-between.  As Dipper enters the room he sees a bunch of Mabel’s sweaters thrown out of her closet all over the floor.  She and Waddles seem to be frantically searching for something.

“Dipper, have you seen my golf sweater?”  Dipper sighs a little at Mabel’s question.  She always has to have the right sweater, doesn’t she, he thinks.  Before he can answer Waddles walks out of the closet holding the sweater in question. 

“Why don’t you ask Waddles, he seems to know a lot about where you keep your sweaters.”  Mabel sticks her head out of the pile of sweaters and sees Waddles holding the sweater.  She jumps out and hugs Waddles, taking the sweater from him while giving him a big hug.

Dipper shakes his head at the whole situation and turns to drop his things off at the foot of his bed.  As he does he notices a package sitting on his bed.  “Hey Mabel, do you know what this package is?”

“Pfff, how should I know?  We just got up here, isn’t that right Waddles?” Mable says as she pulls the sweater over her head. 

Dipper picks up the package, as he does a letter fall to the floor.  He picks the letter up and looks it over.  No address, paper looks super old.  Before he can open it he voice is heard from downstairs.  “Kids, are you ready yet?”  Mrs. Pines shouts up.  Dipper quickly replaces the package and the letter on his nightstand as the two of them scramble to get ready.

 

Later than evening the twins return to their bedroom.  Mabel shouts excitedly, “Minigolf Champion!” She pumps her arms up and down as Dipper looks at her with a tired look on his face.  “Yea but Grandpa Sherman nearly beat you this time; I bet he was just holding back.”

“No way, I won fair and square.” Mabel pouts as Dipper lets out a little laugh at his provocation working. 

“Alright, alright, now get to bed.  We have an early day tomorrow.”  Mabel realizes the meaning behind Dippers words and jumps into bed.  Waddles, who had been sleeping on her bed while waiting for Mabel gets startled by this, but calms down after a moment.

“Good Night Dipper.”

“Good Night Mabel.” Dipper responds as he turns off the light on the nightstand.  A few moments pass before the lights suddenly come back on.  “Aw man, I almost forgot!” 

“Forgot what” Mabel asks, sleepy in tone.

“The letter and the box, I forgot about them!”  Dipper reaches over, grabbing the letter. 

“Well, what does it say?”  Dipper starts to open the letter.  He takes a deep breath as he begins to read it.

“Dear Dipper, I hope this letter finds you well.  I can’t wait for you to return to Gravity Falls, I have much that I wish to talk to you about.  In the box is a gift I prepared for you to use upon your return.  I want to keep it a surprise so don’t open it until you arrive back in town.  Signed. . . Huh, that’s weird.”

“What is?”

“It’s not signed”

“That’s silly.” Mabel gets up from her bed and walks over to Dipper’s.  She takes a look over the letter and realizes it isn’t signed.

“I know.  It sounds like something Grunkle Ford would write.”

“He probably just forgot to sign it before he sent it.  He is getting way old.”  As Mabel finishes with the letter she looks over at the box.  “Are you going to open it?”

Dipper chuckles a little.  “You read the letter, not till we get back to Gravity Falls.”

Mabel sulks a little at this, returning to her bed and pulling up her covers. “Aww.  Well, goodnight then.”

“Goodnight Mabel”  As Dipper places the letter on top of the package on the nightstand he opens the drawer and pulls out the letter he received when the left Gravity Falls last year.  As he runs his hand over a few of the signatures he murmurs to himself “I think this is going to be a good summer.”

 

* * *

 

The next day the whole Pines family stands at the bus station, the bus’s destination reads GRAVITY FALLS as the family gives each other hugs goodbye. 

“Now you two stay out of trouble this year, you hear me.  I don’t want either of you to cause your Great Uncles any issues this time.”  Mr. Pines says as he hugs his children. 

“Don’t worry Dad, we won’t do anything out of the ordinary.”  Mabel replies.

“I think that is what your father is worried about” Mrs. Pines says as she hugs her children.  The group chuckles a little as Mabel turns to Sherman and Waddles.

“I’m sorry Waddles, they won’t let you on again.  I (sniffle) really bet everyone (sniffle) wanted to see you again.”  Waddles lets out a saddened squeal as Mabel hugs him.  Sherman kneels down and pats Mabel on the head. 

“There, there Mabel.  I’ll make sure to keep Waddles company while you’re gone.  I’m sure you see him again before you know.”

Mabel, holding back her tears replies, “Thanks Grandpa Sherman.” 

Sherman clears the tears that have fallen from Mabel’s eyes with his hand.  “Now, you two best get on before the bus leaves without you.”

As the twins board the bus and it departs, the whole family waves goodbye, with Sherman assisting Waddles by waving his hoof.

As the hours roll by the bus continues on.  The Twins start to doze off, eventually falling asleep somewhere around the California/Oregon Border.  As the bus pulls up to the town center the Twins wake up and get off.  They take a quick look around and see that the town is slowly changing.  A few of the stores are different; there is even a moving van in front of the house across from the grocery store.  The twins see their ride approaching and walk to meet it.

 

The Mystery Shack stands as it always has been, outside still full of signs advertising the mysteries within.  Working on the roof Old Man McGucket is hanging a cloth sign that says “Welcome back Pines” over the Mystery Shack sign.  A car pulls up and the twins get out.  Dipper stops briefly as he gets out thanking the driver.  “Thanks for the ride Lazy Susan.”  Susan looks down at Dipper and raises her lazy eyelid. 

“Anytime kids!”

As Susan’s car drives away the twins both look back at her driving.  “How does she drive with only one eye?  Doesn’t she need depth perception to do that?”

“I don’t know,” Mabel replies, “but she still drives better than Grunkle Stan.”

The twins chuckle at the thought as the walk to the gift shop door.  Dipper enters but Mabel stops a moment and looks up at the sign and shouts out.  “Hey McGucket, your sign is upside down!”

McGucket looks up from his handy work, taking of his hat for a moment. “Aw shucks, it is.  Welp, third time’s the charm.”  Mabel shakes her head and enters the shack.

 

As the twins look around they realize much has changed.  Many of the old items that Grunkle Stan had are gone, replaced by what might actually be reputable merchandise.  They briefly catch a glimpse of the top of Melody’s head as she ducks in-between boxes but before they can call to her a booming voice can be hear for what sounds like everywhere.

“Welcome one and all to the internationally acclaimed Mystery Shack.  What wonders and mysteries will you find here, no one knows.  Do you dare to brave the challenge of our museum of Wonder and Mystery or are you just looking for a little gift to give a loved one.  And now I give you the man who will show you the secrets of the universe, the one, the only, MR. MYSTERY!”

A large blast of smoke bellows out as figure can be seen standing in it.   Moments later the figure begins to cough.  “(cough)(cough) Oh man, that worked out way better in the practice run.  Sup dudes, long time no see.”  The smoke clears, revealing Soos in his full Mr. Mystery attire standing in the center of the room.

Dipper looks at Soos with both a little bit of confusion and amazement.  “Soos, what are you doing?”

“Oh that?  One of the things that Mr. Pines would do when he saw we had important guests.  He said it would always wow the money right out of their wallets.  Figured I would give it a try since, you know, you guys are like the most important guests we have.

“Aw thanks Soos.” Mabel says as she walks up to give Soos a hug.  He bends to one knee and they embrace for a moment.  As they part Soos stays on his knee.  “Man, I really missed you guys.  The town hasn’t been as much fun since you guys left.”

“We missed you too Soos.  After all, with you not around there was no one to fix my brother”

As Soos and Mabel laugh as Dipper sighs and looks around the room.  “You changed a lot in here.”

“Yea dudes, apparently when you actually have licensed merchandise for something that is popular it sells well.  Profits have, like, tripled since we made the change.  I don’t know why anyone would not have merch for something as popular as the Mystery Shack.”

Dipper shrugs then turns to Soos. “Has Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford arrived yet?”

Soos brings his hand up to his chin, thinking for a moment.  “Sorry dudes, Mr. Pines called just a while ago and said they won’t make it till tomorrow.  Something about Mr. Ford checking up on something.”

Dipper sulks a little.  Soos see this and tries to cheer him up.  “Don’t worry dudes, I’m sure it’s as just a little hiccup and the will be here tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks Soos” Dipper nodded in acceptance of this.

“Anyhow, we got a big party planned for all of you tomorrow. The whole town’s invited.  I’m sure Mr. Pines and Mr. Ford will love what we’ve got in store.

Mabel perks up at this news. “Will there be punch and Smile Dip?”

“You bet, I got everything we needed yesterday so we’re all good on that.”

Dipper looks questioningly at Soos. “Are you sure you got everything.  You don’t need ANYTHING else?”

“Nope, I’ve got everything . . .“ Soos turns to his side and whispers “probably.”

As Mabel is looking at the new model of the grappling hook on sale Dipper walks up to her and shakes the pack on her back a little to grab her attention.  “We should probably to unpack.”  Dipper turns back to Soos. “Are we still in the attic?”

“You bet dudes.  I set it up exactly like last year!  You’ll feel like you never left.  Once you guys unpack we can eat, I smell Abuelita making something in the kitchen.

“Thanks Soos.” Mabel looks at her brother “Ready?”

The twins walk to the back of the shack to head upstairs to their room.  As they arrive it is, as promised, almost exactly as the left it.  A few wooden panels have been replaced but otherwise unchanged in layout.

“Well, Soos was right; this is exactly how I remember it.”  Dipper says as he drops his pack at the foot of his bed.  Mabel does the same and proceeds to jump up and down on her bed.  She does this for a moment before looking up and screaming. 

“AHHHH!”

“What is it Mabel?”  As Dipper asks his sister what has her spooked she points up the rafters.  “It’s Daryl, he’s gone” Dipper looks up at the rafters, realizing they are new.

“Well it was bound to happen sometime.  That wood had to be at least, what, 40 years old?  Plus we did turn this place into a giant robot last year.”

Mabel begins to tear up, her thoughts to her lost companion.  “Aw come on Mabel.  Fine, how about we give Daryl a proper sendoff later?”

Mabel seems to calm down, the tears holding back. “Thanks Dipper”

“Anything for my sister.”

As the twins unpack their gear Dipper happens to pull out the package he received back in Piedmont.  He examines it for a moment before walking over to his bed.  Mabel notices him and stops unpacking her sweaters.

“So are you going to open it now?”

“Well the letter did say once we arrived.”

As Dipper begins to open the top of the package the bottom falls out and the contents fall to the floor.  As the twins look down they see a book, face down, in good condition.  Dipper picks it up and flips it over.  The cover has a pair of hand prints on it, overlapping.  The bottom print is a six fingered hand and the top one is a regular hand.  The number 4 is written on the top hand.  “It’s a journal. . . “

“What’s inside?” Mabel asks.  As Dipper begins to open the book but as he does he hears a voice from doorway.  “You dudes ready?  Food is getting cold!”

The twins look up to see Soos standing in the doorway.  Dipper and Mabel look at each other for a moment and Dipper places the book, open, on his bed.  The two walk out with Soos.  “I guess we can just look at it later.”

As the twins walk away a breeze flows through the attic, flipping the pages of the new journal before stopping on the spine of the book.  Each of the two pages has a right handed print on it of similar but different size.  The breeze blows again and the pages turn to the end of the book.

 

* * *

  

The next morning as sleep slowly left him, Dipper began to wonder where he was.   As he took stock of his surroundings he realizes he is in his room in the shack.  “But why is everything upside down?” he wonders.  Then he slips out of bed, literally.  “Oww.” He says as he stands up, rubbing his head.  He must have fallen asleep wrong and nearly rolled of his bed.  As he looked back around to where he was sleeping he notices he has left the new journal open.  “I remember working in it most of then the night then. . .“ He is cut off by muffled yelling from downstairs.  It sounds like the Grunkles have arrived.

“Mabel, get up” Dipper yells over to Mabel as he starts to gather his things on the bed together.  Mabel begins to stur, turning over and reaching for something she can’t quite find.  As she sits up Dipper sees that she has started to frown.   “What’s wrong Mabel?”

“I miss Waddles.  This is the first time in almost a year that I have woken up and he wasn’t here with me.”  Dipper walks over to his sister’s bed and hops up.  He pulls her in close to him. 

“I know Mabel, I miss him too, but he’s with Grandpa Sherman for the summer.”  Mabel begins to sulk, almost cry. “Don’t cry.  Look, today you’re going to see everyone again and it’ll be awesome.  So cheer up, nobody wants to see a sad Mabel.

Mabel forces a little smile as Dipper hops off the bed.  “That’s my sister!  Now come on, I think Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan are here.”  Dipper offers his hand to Mabel.  Mabel takes it and both make their way downstairs.

 

In the family room is the familiar sight of Stan and Ford in their most common interaction, fighting.  Both seem to be fairly heated at each other as Ford speaks up.  “Stanley, I’m just not sure this was a good idea.  I’m worried about what happened out there.  Anomalies don’t just disappear on their own.”

“Look you said it yourself; it could have been a glitch.” Stanley sighs at his brother before continuing. “We’re back here now so why don’t you just enjoy the summer and when it’s over we can go back out there and check it again.”  Ford seems to become incensed at this. 

“I think you are underestimating how important it is that these anomalies are taken care of.  We cannot give any way for Bill to come back if erasing him last year didn’t work!”

Stan’s face changes to one of pure anger as he crosses his arms. “Bill this, Bill that.  This Bill guy was the only one you ever talked about while we were out there.”  Stan collects himself a little. “Don’t you think it is time to put that aside, for the sake of the kids?  I know Dipper was really excited to see you again.  I’m sure everything is going to be fine, just . . . relax a little.

Ford starts to calm down as he takes the statement into consideration.  “You’re right, we need to be here for them.”  He pauses for a moment and begins to think. “I still don’t trust it though.  I am going down to my lab and set up some monitoring equipment just in case.” 

Stan throws his arms up in the air. “Fine, then will you enjoy yourself?” 

As he starts to leave for the gift shop Ford turns back. “Yes, yes.  I’m sure this will be an exciting summer as you say.”

As the vending machine slam shut Stan hears the pitter patter of two pairs of little legs on the stairs behind him.  He turns to see Dipper and Mabel having just come down from their room.  “Kids!  How are you doing?”  Mabel runs over and gives Stan big hug, happy to see her Favorite Grunkle again.  Dipper holds for a minute, as if expecting something.  “Grunkle Stan, where is Grunkle Ford?”

_Told you_ , Stan thought to himself as he puts Mabel down.  He walks over to Dipper and gives him a big pat on the head, messing up. . . well I guess you can’t mess up bed head any more than it is.  “What, no love for me?”

“Err I. . .“  Stan gives out a hearty laugh at Dipper’s reaction. “Don’t worry Dipper, my brother’s just in the basement right now doing some nerd stuff.  He’ll be back up in a while.  I’ll bet he has lots to talk to you about.”  Mabel walks over to stand next to her brother, excitement in her voice.  “Ooh, ooh, Grunkle Stan did you two have fun at sea?”

“Seven months trapped with your brother who you barely know anymore, at sea, with no place to go and no one else to talk to you mean?”  Stan replies in a serious tone.  Mabel begins to shirk like she said something wrong.  _Uh oh, better fix this_ , Stan thought. “Oh, don’t give me that look.  It was actually fine.  We bonded. . . I think.  I never know with him anymore.” Stan tries to make the hand movements of Ford’s science equipment. “We did all of his science gobbledygook and came back here to be with you guys.”

“So when did you have time to write a new journal about Gravity Falls?”  Dipper asks.  Stan gives him a confused look.  Dipper hands Stan the new journal and he flips through it briefly. 

“Funny, I don’t remember Ford working on this.  He did keep a journal with him so he could note down the stuff we encountered by it fell overboard a few days ago.  I gotta say, I don’t remember any of these things out there.”  Stan closes the journal and hands it back to Dipper.  “I’m sure he can tell you all about it when he’s done in our room.”

“Your room?”  Mabel asks. 

“Yea, Soos didn’t have any more rooms to loan in the shack so he converted the first basement lab into a bedroom.  It’s a little cramped but it’s just for the summer so we’ll be fine.   Plus Ford has all of his equipment down there so it will keep him busy.”

As Stan finishes Soos can be heard yelling outside.  “Put the tables over to your left Mr. McGucket.  No, to your other left.” 

Stan puts his palm over his face, Yup, just like old times, he thinks. “Oh boy, come on you two, sounds like Soos needs some help setting up for the party.”  Mabel and Dipper nod and follow their Grunkle outside.

 

After a few hours of working on setting up everything Soos stands in the middle and checks of his list as Stan, Dipper, Mabel, and Mr. McGucket work on setting up for the party.  “Tables: Check.  Chairs: Check.  Smile Dip:” Soos looks over at the crate of Smile Dip he came across., “Double Check.  Punch:” Soos looks around the site again.  A worried look shows on his face as Stan passes by. “Uh, oh.  That’s not good.”  Stan hears this as he passes.

“What’s not good?”  Soos shows Stan the list.  Everything is checked off except one item.

“Mr. Pines, I think I forgot to pick up the punch from the store.  I can’t leave the shack right now, could you do me, like, a big favor and go pick it up for me?

“Well, err . . .“ Stan gives off weakly as he searches for an excuse.  His gaze roams around looking for something.  Dipper, no that won’t work, he thinks.  As his gaze reaches Mabel he sees her slowly putting out the candy, her motions unenthusiastic.  Stan sighs to himself. “Alright Soos, I’ll go get it.”

Stan cups his hands over his mouth to shout.  “Dipper, Mabel, you two are coming with me.  We’re going to run into town and get something for Soos.”  Dipper shrugs and runs over to the car, Mabel slowly shuffles in the same direction.

 

As the STNLYMBL pulls into the parking lot of the store Stan overshoots the spot, landing firmly in-between two spots, nearly overrunning the parking block in the process.  Stan and Dipper get out of the car and start to walk to the store.  As Mabel gets out she sighs to herself before shutting the door.  She won’t admit it but she knows she is down.  Dipper is right, nobody wants to see her this way and she knows if she does stay this way she might go mad.  As she starts to walk to the store she hears the squeal of pig. 

“Wait, what?” She says out loud as she turns around to find the source of the sound.  She scans the houses behind her.  The only thing she can see is a moving truck in front of one of them with the drivers getting in the vehicle and starting it up.  Not seeing anything she waits a moment before she turns and runs into the store. 

As she gets in Dipper and Stan are standing at the checkout counter.  Dipper is holding large container with the words “PUNCH” in the middle.  Above and below in smaller print the words “Not,” and “S&P approved,” cover the box. 

As Mabel runs to Dipper she nearly bull rushes him in excitement.  Dipper is just barely able to hold himself from falling backwards as his sister approaches.  “Jeez Mabel, what is it now?”  Mabel begins to jump up and down in excitement. 

“I heard him Dipper!  I heard Waddles!  He was out there!”  Stan reaches over and Dipper hands him the last punch container. 

“Mabel, you know that isn’t possible.  Waddles is with Grandpa Sherman for the summer,“ Dipper looks up to Stan for a moment, “Grunkle Stan, are there any other pigs in Gravity Falls?”

Stan looks back at Dipper with a look of disgust.  “Ugh, no.  After that fair last year I had them ship all of those pigs away.  Nobody owns a pig in Gravity Falls but you two.”  Stan stops to think for a moment. “Woodpecker maybe, I think there was someone who married one a while back, but definitely no pigs.” Stan finishes as he picks up the three containers and heads to the door.

As Dipper and Mabel start to follow him Dipper stops and looks to his sister. “Look Mabel, I know you miss him but you’re just going to have to live without him for the summer.”   Mabel sulks a little again,

“But I feel like I’m going crazy without him Dipper.”

“I know how you feel but some things we just have to accept.”  Mabel sighs as her brother turns to leave.  As they reach the car Stan is loading the containers in the back.  Dipper and Mabel go to their respective sides of the car and prepare to enter.  Mabel starts to climb up when she hears the squealing again. 

“There it is again.  Maybe I am just going crazy.” She looks up to see surprise on Dippers face.

“No Mabel, I hear it too.”  The twins jump out of the car and start looking around.  After a few seconds the squealing happens again and Mabel homes in on the house that was obscured by the truck earlier.  She sees a shadow just behind the fence around this house. “DIPPER THERE!” Mabel shouts as she begins running in that direction.  Dipper starts running after her seconds later.  Hearing the commotion Stan comes up from the truck, bumping his head on the lid. 

“Oww.  Hey, where are you kids going?  Get back here!”

 

* * *

 

As I run after my sister she jumps the fence of the house.  I didn’t even know she could do that!  I open the gate and keep running after her.  “Come on Dipper, don’t lose him!”  Mabel yells as she rounds the corner behind the house.  I’m keeping up but just barely.  As I round the corner I see her round the next.  As I pass the final corner I hear Mabel cry out again, “Grunkle Stan watch out!”  A second later Grunkle Stan puts up his guard, shouting out “Oh no, No, NOOO!”  The shadow jumps on to Grunkle Stan causing him to fall over backwards.  Mabel jumps on the shadow seconds later.

As I finally reach them and start catching my breath I can’t believe what I am seeing.  Stan is lying on the ground with Mabel cuddling with Waddles on his chest.  “WADDLES!” Mabel shouts.  He oinks back with glee, at least I assume its glee. 

“I can’t believe it, it’s really Waddles.  But that doesn’t make any sense, Waddles is with. . .“As my voice trails off Mabel looks at me.  They say twins will often times have the same thoughts and I think this was one of those times.

We both get up and start to walk to the door.  My mind is still racing with how all of this fits, how all of this is possible.  I hear Stan grunt up behind us as we reach the door.  Mabel beats me to it and rings the doorbell.  A moment later the door opens and everything in my world shatters.

“But. . . but” I say as Mabel squeals with glee. 

“What?  Who is it?” Grunkle Stan asks confused.  The figure laughs a hearty north-easterner laugh. 

“Come on Stanley.”  He pauses for a second, “It is Stanley right?”  I watch as the figure counts Grunkle Stan’s fingers, satisfied he continues, “It’s not like you can’t recognize your own brother?”

“Shermie?”  Stan says in disbelief.  Grandpa Sherman gets a big smile on his face as he comes out and gives Grunkle Stan a hug. 

So that’s it.  That is how I got here again, back in Gravity Fall for another summer.  This time though, we have an extra Pines member.  Who knows, I think to myself, maybe this will be the start of another epic summer adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is my first attempt at both Gravity Falls and fan fiction in general. I welcome any and all comments that would help me improve. 
> 
>  
> 
> I originally conceived this as a set of spec scripts to do and pitch to Alex himself but realized that wouldn't happen so I am in the process of converting them in my spare time. As of right now I have probably a full season if not two of character and story developments plotted out but since this is just a spare time thing it may take me a while to convert those to fics, but be patient, there is a lot going on, even in this episode.
> 
>  
> 
> Finally, I have debated, once this project is done to turn it into an audio book/radio episode so if you like what you are reading and want to contribute to that keep me mind. Right now I am not putting out a call for VA's for it but I will most likely do so in the future if everyone likes what they read. My guess is roughly around the fourth or fifth episode if I get that far, but I make no promises right now.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks and enjoy,
> 
> Ian


	2. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After spending part of the day at Sherman's house the Pines return to the Shack for the party. More reunions ensue and the story starts in earnest.

I bounced up a little as the car hit a bump.  I was sitting in the back seat with my brother and Waddles while Grunkle Stan and Grandpa Sherman were talking to each other in the front. Dipper was trying to add exposition to Grunkle Stan’s story as the car drove down the roadway.  _This is taking longer than normal_ , I thought to myself, _but I guess that’s fine_.  It is getting dark out after all.  Now that I had Waddles back I was experiencing something different than my normal super cheerful self.  I was experiencing a new kind of happiness; call it calmness if you will.  My life was normal again, but still different.

“And then I punched the dino in the head.”  Stan took one fist and swung it forward to imitate his punch. Grandpa Sherman just shook his head.

“Really now Stanley, a dinosaur?  I figured you were losing it out here in the woods but,” Sherman chuckles a little, “I didn’t think you would go as far as to make up a story about dinosaurs.”  Dipper leaned forward, only his seatbelt holding him back

“It’s true Grandpa Sherman, we saw it ourselves.  If it weren’t for him we would have lost Waddles.”

I turn to Waddles.  He’s snuggled up against me happy as a pig can be.  So am I, I think to myself.  As I give Waddles a hug he looks up at me with delight in his eye.  I see Stan look back at me in the mirror.  Our eyes meet for a moment and he smiles as he sees me cuddle with Waddles.  I know he always says such mean things about Waddles but I think deep down he likes Waddles as much as I do.  As Grunkle Stan rounds the bend I can see lights in the distance.  We were almost there.

 

* * *

  

As the car pulled into the Mystery Shack’s Parking lot the party was already well underway.  Stan and Sherman went to the back of the car to get the punch as the twins waited for them.  “So Stanley, why don’t you take me around and introduce me to some of the people.  After all, these are going to be my new neighbors from now on.”  Sherman said as he pulled out one of the containers from the trunk. 

“Yea, that’s not a bad idea.  And I thought Ford was the smart one” Stan replied.  “Oh, and since you’re up here just call me Stan.  Only Ford likes calling me Stanley and only when he is angry.”  The two chuckled as they walked away from the car.

“Well, you ready Mabel?” Dipper asked his sister.  Mabel looked to Waddles who was walking towards the Shack’s rear porch.

“Yea, I guess I am.  Let’s do it.  PARTY TIME!”  Mabel was back, Dipper thought to himself, and not a moment too soon.

As the twins approached the crowd they heard a familiar voice call out to them.  “Mabel, Dipper, over here.”  They look over to see Candy Chiu standing off to one side.  As they do Mabel breaks into a sprint to go see her best friend. She jumps onto Candy and they give each other a big hug.  “Mabel I missed you!” As they break Mabel grabs Candy’s hands and starts swinging them around.

“I missed you too.  We have so much to catch up on.”  Mabel stops swinging for a second and looks around.  “Where is Grenda?” 

Candy looks down for a second and releases Mabel’s hands. “She. . . Didn’t make it.”  Mabel gets a horrified look on her face, _what happened to Grenda!_ she thinks. “She. . . Is with Marius on a cruise and won’t be able to make it until later this summer.  Here, this is the postcard she sent me.  Read it for yourself.”

Candy pulls out the postcard from her pocket and hands it Mabel who reads it out loud to the three.  “DEAR EVERYONE, I’M SORRY I CAN’T BE THERE WITH YOU GUYS RIGHT NOW.  MARIUS IS TAKING ME ON THIS CRUISE ON HIS PRIVATE YACHT AND WE WON’T BE THERE UNTIL LATER.  I TOLD HIM IT WAS STUPID BUT HE’S BEING SO CLINGINY RECENTLY.  I’VE ALMOST THOUGHT ABOUT BREAKING UP WITH HIM BUT DON’T TELL HIM THAT.  ANYWAY DON’T HAVE TOO MUCH FUN WITHOUT ME.  I’LL BE THERE AS SOON AS WERE DONE WITH THIS STUPID AROUND THE WORLD TOUR.”  Mabel scratches her throat as she finishes.  _Imitating Grenda’s voice is hard on her_ , she thinks.

“I’m sorry Mabel, I know you wanted to hang out with both of us this summer but I will just have to do for a while.”  Mabel turned back to Candy giving her another hug. 

“That’s fine, you’ll do.”  Dipper smiled a little at this.  He was worried for a second that his sister might get depressed again but it looks like she will be fine. 

“Since I’m sure you two have a lot of catching up to do I think I’m going to go walk around and see everyone.”  Mabel and Candy walked over to a pair of seats, almost oblivious now of Dipper’s presence.

As Dipper began to look around at who was there he spotted a few familiar faces.  What, Toby is talking to Shandra and she seems to be talking back?  When did this happen?  Dipper noticed that Shandra was downing cups of punch like it was nobody’s business.  As he kept scanning the crowd he landed on the DJ Booth.  Melody was doing her best to DJ but with all of that equipment he could barely see her.  Maybe they should have just let Soos do it again. 

Next he sees Grunkle Stan introducing Grandpa Sherman to Mayor Tyler, Sheriff Blubs, and Deputy Durland.  He can’t make out the conversation over the music but given that Mayor Tyler is giving a big handshake to Grandpa Sherman it seems to be going well. 

His gaze goes to the punch table where he sees Robbie, Lee, Tambry, and Thompson, who is eating all of the Smile Dip.  _He is not going to like what all of that does to him_ , Dipper thinks.  _I wonder where Windy is, she would usually be hanging out with them_.  As he looks around again Dipper realizes that none of the Corduroys are here.

As Dipper finishes scanning the crowd his vision lands on the porch.  Waddles is sitting patiently on the  top, Dipper’s fairly certain that he is just waiting for Mabel to come to him.  His gaze shifts a little to the couch.  A single person sits on it, her gaze lost and away from the crowd.  Dipper walks over to the porch.  As he approaches the couch he speaks up, startling the occupant.

“Pacifica, what are you doing.”  Pacifica jumps a little, having not expected anyone to come up to her.

“Oh, it’s you.  Great, you’re like, the last person I wanted to see.”  Dipper gives her a confused look. 

“So then why did you come to a party thrown specifically for my sister and me?” Pacifica just sighs at this.  No witty comeback?  This was weird, Dipper thought.  He hops up on the couch beside Pacifica.

“I didn’t say you could get up here with me.” 

“It’s my couch.” Pacifica sighs again and turns her head away.

“Fine, you can sit on your stupid couch.”  Dipper starts to reach out to place his hand on her shoulder but stops short. As he puts his hand back down he asks in his most understanding tone. 

“Pacifica, what’s wrong, this isn’t like you.  Normally you would be more, well, aggressive.  What happened while we were gone?”  Pacifica props her head up on her arm. 

“You just wouldn’t understand.  It’s not like you have ever been in this situation.” 

Dipper scowls at her. “You may be right, but if you don’t tell me I’ll never know.  Pacifica, you can tell me.  Worst thing that happens is I don’t understand.”  Pacifica looks up at Dipper for a second, and then turns her gaze to her open palms in her lap. 

“It’s been, rough, since you guys left.  Daddy lost everything when that stuff happened last year.  He’s been rebuilding but it takes a lot to do when you have nothing.  No home, no stuff, no money.” Pacifica pauses for a moment. “No friends.  All of my friends left me; they didn’t want to hang out with a poor kid anymore.  Daddy got all of our money back but that didn’t change anything.  Everyone still seems me as some, some, poor kid.”

Dipper reaches over and puts his hand on Pacifica’s shoulder. “You were right Pacifica, I don’t understand how it is go from rich to poor to rich again.”  Pacifica looks up at him. “But you know what; I do know how it is to feel like you have no friends.  It’s terrible, not something I would wish on my worst enemy.  I’ll tell you what, how about you and I become friends for the summer.  I might not be rich, I might not be pompous, but do you know what I am?”  Pacifica gives Dipper a confused look. 

“What?”

“I’m a loyal friend who isn’t going to judge you by things you have, but by the things you do.  Last year you proved you were better than your name, your money, and your things.  I supposed that means I should give something other than scorn a shot.  So how about it, do you want to hang out with Mabel and me this summer?” 

Pacifica gave a little smile.  “Alright, I guess I can do you guys a favor and grace your presence this year.  I’ll think of it as a form of charity.”  The two of them give of a playful chuckle.

 

“And then Dipper opened the package and this journal fell out of it!” Mabel makes motions of something falling and an explosion. “We don’t know who wrote it but I’m sure Dipper will find out.”  Candy is listening, latching onto every word Mabel is saying.  “It’s just sad that Grenda won’t be able to come hang with us this year.  She always had the best beauty tips.”  Candy breaks her concentration with the mention of Grenda again. 

“I know, it will not be as fun without her.”

“Did widdle old me hear you were missing out on a friend this year?”  A voice called out to the two of them.  Mabel’s eye immediately began twitching at the thought of who that was.  As the two girls turn their gaze to the newcomer Mabel called out in with a little bit of anger or disgust in her voice.

 “Gideon.”

“Now, now, no need to be so hostile.” Gideon replied as he pulled up a chair near the two. “I haven’t done anything bad to you recently.”  Mabel scowled at him, wanting him to go away.

“What do you want?”  Gideon composed himself on the chair he was setting on.

“Look, I know we had our differences last year, with me all trying to get you to go out with me and killing your brother and such, but this year I wanted to start off on a new foot.  I know y’all don’t trust me but I do really want to be different this year.  Now I may have overheard you say that your big friend Grenda won’t be here this year so why don’t you give little ole Gideon a chance to be your friend.  I promise I won’t try to get you to love me, and I won’t try to kill your brother this year.  What do ya say?”  Gideon finished as he tried to make the biggest puppy dog face he could.

“No.” Mabel responded instantly. 

Candy turned to her and started whispering.  “Mabel, wait.  With Grenda gone we need someone else who we can use.  After all, who are we going to practice our make-up techniques on?  If we give him a chance and he messes up we just tell him to leave.” 

Mabel whispered back to Candy. “I don’t think you realize, he doesn’t take leave for an answer well.”  Mabel looks up at Gideon.  Gideon puts the cute face up to 11.  Mabel sighs.  “Fine Gideon, you can hang out with us, but if you try any funny business, ANY, we’ll never talk with you again.”

“Oh my stars!  Thank you Mabel, Thank you Candy.  You won’t regret this!” Gideon exclaims as he jumps up and down off of his chair. 

“We better not.” Mabel replied as she got up from her chair and began to walk into the crowd. 

Later in the evening, as the party rolled on, Dipper and Pacifica got up from the couch. “We’ll I better get back before Daddy yells at me.”  As Pacifica walked over to the parking lot, a chauffeur waiting for her, Dipper waved goodbye and began to scan the crowd to see if there is anyone else he wants to go see.  Not seeing anyone he walks over to see his sister hanging out with Candy. . . and is that Gideon?  _What happened_ , he thinks to himself?  Gideon spots him first and runs over to him. 

“Dipper, isn’t it wonderful.  Mabel has agreed to hang out with me this summer.”  Dipper hears Mabel shout from the distance.

“MAYBE, I SAID MAYBE!”  Dipper laughs at this.  I guess Mabel is willing to give second chances too, he thinks.  Something out of the corner of his eye catches his attention, flannel.   As he turns he sees Wendy now standing with her friends, she is wearing his cap.

The cap!  Oh how could he forget, he stopped wearing hats for a while this year so he totally forgot to wear it.  He thought to himself, it must be in my bags still.  He turned to the shack and ran in. 

As Dipper reached their room he began to claw through his pack.  “It has to be in here somewhere,” he thought out loud, “No, no, no, how could I have forgotten it!”  As he sits down dejected the hat appears just inches from his face.  Dipper takes it and looks up, Mabel is standing by him with a smile on her face.

“Siblings gotta help each other out.” Dipper gets up and hugs his sister.

“Thanks sis.”  She hugs him back.

“Anytime bro.  Now, you have to go close this chapter.”

Dipper looked down at the hat.  He had thought about this day for almost the entire year.  He knew he had feelings for her still, deep down, but those were nothing more than what remained of last year.  He had told his sister what he was going to do before they left.  This was it; he had to finish what they had discussed.

As Dipper left the room Mabel waited a moment.   She was proud of her brother.  He fell in love last year with someone and had learned what it was like to have his heart broken.  _Maybe he is growing up_ , she thought to herself before walking out too.

As Dipper approached Windy, hat still in his hands, he called out to her.  “Hey Wendy.” Wendy turned around to greet him. 

“Oh hey Dipper, fancy meeting you here.” Dipper chuckled a little at the joke.  This was hard for him but he knew he had to do it.  He had to have closure. 

“Here, I wanted you to have this back.” He offered up the hat to her.  In many ways he didn’t want to do it, he wanted to put it on his head, to make himself believe that there was a chance, but he knew differently now.

Wendy took the hat into her hands, a somewhat confused look on her face.  This hadn’t actually happened to her before, what was this feeling.  Regret?  Sorrow?  No, this was understanding.  She knew what Dipper was trying to do and she would just have to accept it.  “Sweet, thanks for keeping it for me.” She took off the hat that Dipper wore last year, that she kept for him, and placed it on his head, putting her hat on her head. “Here, you can have this one back.  It looks better on you anyway.”

Dipper smiled, a sad smile, but a smile none the less.  “I’m gonna go over and see how my sister is doing.  I’m sure we’ll catch up this summer.” Dipper turned and started to walk away, waving to Wendy as he went.

“Alright little man, I’ll catch you later.”  As Dipper lost sight of Wendy his heart hurt.  This was a pain he had grown accustomed to after last year, or so he though.  _Maybe now this pain will slowly fade_ , he though as he walked into the shack.  He’s had enough for one night; it was time to go to bed.

 

* * *

 

As the sleep slowly faded from him again Dipper once again was greeted by the view of his room upside down.  Dipper was more aware of what was going on this time and tried to stop what was about to happen next.  He failed.  Dipper slid of his bed onto the ground once again.  “Why do I keep doing that?” he wondered out loud.  Last night he went straight to bed after giving Wendy her hat back so it makes no sense that he moved like that.  _Whatever_ , he thought.

As Dipper looked over at this sister she was still sound asleep, Waddles cuddling up with her.  “I’m glad your back” As if he understood Waddles opened one eye and looked at Dipper for a moment before closing it again.  Dipper caught a whiff of something in the air.  “Well, time for breakfast I suppose.”  He debated waking Mabel but decided he would just let her sleep and have a wonderful dream.

 

As Dipper reached the kitchen Soos was working over the stove, making something.  Dipper noticed he was wearing his “Hairless Gopher Power!” apron that Ford got him as a joke last year for calling him that.  Soos had taken it in stride, as he takes about everything, so it ended up being a funny gift for everyone.  “Oh hey dude.  I’m making pancakes if you want some” Soos turned his head briefly to see Dipper, before turning back to watch his cooking.  “Just go ahead and sit with Mr. Pines at the table and I’ll have them ready in a jiffy.”

Dipper walked over and sat in the other seat at the table.  Grunkle Stan was across from him, obscured by the copy of the Gravity Falls Gossiper he was reading.  “How did the rest of the night go for you Grunkle Stan?” A muffled and unintelligible sound comes out from behind the newspaper.  “Grunkle Stan?” Dipper reaches across the table and pulls down the newspaper.  He jumps back in horror as he sees his Great Uncles face in what can only be described as zombie like.  “Soos what happened to Grunkle Stan?!”  Soos turns around for a moment to see Stan’s face. 

“Aw dude, I know what fixes that.” Soos pulls a large liter sized mug out of the cabinet; the mug has Stan’s face on it with the words MUG SHOT below the picture.  He fills the mug with all of the coffee in the pot and sets it down in front of Stan.

Stan picks up the mug and begins to chug the coffee, not stopping until all of it is consumed.  “Ahh, that’s the stuff.  You always know how to give me a pick me up Soos.  I missed this when we were out at sea.”  Soos smiles for a moment preparing to respond when he hears the pancakes burning a little on the pan and quickly runs back to them. 

“What happened to you Grunkle Stan?  Did you and Grandpa Sherman stay up too late last night?”

“Sherman?  Ha!  No he left around midnight.  This was all due to Ford.  I swear I don’t think he understand that there is a point he needs to rest.  He was working on his machines all night so I couldn’t get a wink of sleep, I think he’s still down there working on it now.  Let me tell you Dipper, never ever let Mabel prevent you from sleeping at night, and don’t do the same to her, it’s not good for you.” 

Dipper thought back to a conversation a year ago.  “Yea, I don’t think we have that problem anymore.”

“Anyway, I set up a lunch date so Ford and I can go talk and catch up with Sherman.  Problem is I haven’t exactly broken it to him that Sherman is here, or that he needs to actually come up.  Just not sure how when he gets like this.”  Stan looks down at the mug he is holding. 

“Maybe I could go talk to him?” Stan looks back up at Dipper. 

“Yea, maybe you can.  You’re the brainy type, maybe you can get him to come to his sense.  Just remember, don’t tell him it’s Sherman, I want to keep that a surprise since this is their first meeting in over 30 years.”

“Alright Grunkle Stan, I’m on it!”  Dipper gets up and walks to the gift shop.  He wasn’t sure how he was going to do it, or even what Grunkle Ford was working on down there but he was going to try.  If he could even convince Ford to come up for breakfast that would probably be enough to get this started.

 

The machine was buzzing, crunching the numbers.  _Still not enough, this won’t be enough to identify where the anomaly is coming from, where it went_.  Ford picked up a paper readout, _the numbers weren’t good, they didn’t add up_.  Ford was beside himself in this.  Could he trust anyone else?  Of course he could trust Stan with this, just not the technical part.  Fiddleford?  Maybe, but he had seen so little of his old assistant recently and they had drifted apart again after he left with Stan. 

What about Dipper?  Bright, but young.  He probably wouldn’t be able to figure this out just from looking at it.  As his thoughts ran their course he didn’t even hear the door open to the basement, he didn’t hear Dipper approach him.  “Grunkle Ford!” 

Ford jumped in surprise. “Dipper, it’s you.  Don’t scare me like that.”  Dipper shirked back for a moment. 

“Sorry, I tried calling your name but you didn’t seem to respond.” 

 _Was I really that lost in thought?_  Ford thought to himself.  “I’m sorry I just didn’t, well, I didn’t notice you come in.

“What are you working on?” Dipper asked as he looked over the readouts.  Ford looked up at them also and began to point some of the data out to him. “This machine is currently scanning for any and all anomalies.  I set it up to find the one we missed while we were out there.”  Ford pauses for a second as one of the readouts confirms a negative again. “Unfortunately I can’t seem to get it to work just right.  Something about the calibration keeps giving me bad data.” 

Dipper looked at the readouts, and the calibration on it for a moment.  Familiar, it seems super familiar, he thought to himself.  Then it hits him, the journal had this data in it.  Dipper pulls out the journal and begins flipping through the pages.  “What do you have there Dipper?”  Dipper finds the page and shows it Ford.

“Here it is.  I knew I saw this sequence before.  One of the pages talks about it in your new journal.” 

Ford takes the journal from Dipper and starts to read the page.  “Incredible!  How could I not have seen this, it’s so simple.” Ford begins adjusting the calibration on his machine.  It whirls to life and starts producing readouts.

After a few moments Ford seems satisfied.  “That does it, the scanner works.  If any anomalies show up this will catch them and identify their location in short order.”  Ford turns back to Dipper. “Where did you get this?” Dipper looks at Ford with a confused look.

“You sent it to me.  You sent it to my home in Piedmont.” Ford now looks down at the journal confused.  He starts to thumb through the pages.

“Dipper, I didn’t write this journal.  I didn’t have time to.  We were so busy this year that the best I could do was make a small amount of notes and I lost those several days before we returned.”  Ford closes the book and hands it back to Dipper. “I don’t know who wrote this book but what this contains might be a clue to what happened out at sea.  Take good care of it, I’m sure we’ll need it soon.”  Ford gets up from his chair and walks over to the bed.  “For now, I’m going to get some sleep”

 _That’s right, sleep!  The reason I came down here_ , Dipper thought.  “Grunkle Ford, before you go to sleep there is something I need to talk to you about.”  Ford sat on his bed, the night finally catching up with him. 

“What is it Dipper.”  Dipper walked over to his Grunkle. 

“Grunkle Stan and you have an appointment to meet someone today at noon.  I really need you to be there.”  Ford looked over at his clock.  Eight Thirty AM, three hours of sleep then a short meeting.  I’ve worked on worse, he thought.

“Alright Dipper, I’ll set my alarm for eleven, how about that. I’ll be there for your meeting.”  Dipper smiled, his mission accomplished. 

“Alright Grunkle Ford.  I will see you at eleven.”  Dipper turned off the light as he left the room and made his way to the elevator.

 

* * *

  

Sherman paged through the book he was reading.  “Recommended reading my. . . “ The bell tolled off signaling that it was now noon.  Sherman looked up to the sky. He saw the sun had now eliminated the shade the statute had been giving him an hour ago.  “So much for that, my skin can’t take you as well as it used to you know.”  As he looked down he saw Stan’s car pull into a nearby parking spot.  Sherman replaced the book into his pack.  He liked to carry a little pack around to store things in, something his wife taught him before . . . Well he wasn’t going to think on that right now, this is a happy time, a time of reunions. 

He saw Stanley get out of the car, along with Dipper and Mabel.  Another, oddly dressed man got out of the passenger seat and walked over with them.  Is that him, he thought, is that the brother I lost 30 years ago?

As the group approached him Mabel and Dipper ran to his side.  He would hug them but he was still standing in disbelief.  Two older men, who other than their clothes could be indistinguishable, were now standing in front of him.  One of them looked at him.  “Stanley, is this the person you wanted me to meet?”  _That must be Ford_ , Sherman thought. Ford cleared his throat and offered his hand. “Ahem, my name is Stanford Pines.  It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Sherman slowly took Ford’s hand.  He turned it as they shook so he could be certain.  He counted, almost expecting to see the normal amount.  Six, this man had six fingers.  Sherman couldn’t hold himself back anymore, tears started to well up in his eyes.  He pulled this man, who probably still didn’t know who he was, in for a big brotherly hug.  “Ah, well, thanks.” Ford looked at Stan for guidance on what was going on.

Tears still in his eyes and his voice a little shaky Sherman pulled back.  “I can’t believe after 30 years I am standing out here with both of my brothers, alive and well.” Sherman wiped a few tears away from his eyes. “We have a lot of catching up to do.” 

It took a second for Ford to start putting the pieces together.  “Shermie?  You’re Sherman Pines?”  Sherman nodded. “You got . . . old.”

The three men laughed. “Well you’re not that young college kid I saw last time I met you.”  As they finished with their chuckle Stan interjected.

“Alright, alright, how about we go get some brunch and catch up on everything that’s happened.”  The other two nodded and Stan began to lead them away.  The three got in the car and Stan drove them away.

“I think they just forgot about us.”  Dipper said as he and Mabel watched the car drive away. As Dipper turned to Mabel she had tears in her eyes.

“SO MUCH LOVE!” she shouted.

Dipper put his face in his palm.  _Oh boy, she forgot too_.  “Mabel, Earth to Mabel!” This snapped Mabel out of her emotional stupor. 

“HOLY MACKREL DIPPER THEY JUST LEFT US!”  Dipper face palmed again.

“Yes, yes they did.  I’m glad you noticed.”  Mabel calmed down and thought to herself for a second before looking at Dipper.

“So what do we want to do today?  It’s probably going to be a while before they come back.”  Dipper pondered the question.  Mabel was right, they had at least a few hours before they would come back, and most likely a while longer than that before they realized where they had left them.

“Hmm . . . Oh I know.” Dipper pulled out the journal.  He flipped to a page he had started deciphering.  “I actually wanted to check this entry out.  Since we have some time why don’t we?”  Dipper shows Mabel the page.  It shows a strange stone with carvings on it.  Dipper had deciphered the location from one of the ciphers. “I wasn’t able to figure out the code on the other page but I could at least figure out the location and it isn’t too far from here in the forest.  Wanna check it out?”

“The two of us, alone, wandering off in the forest with no one knowing where we are going?  HECK YEA, LETS GO!”  Mabel shouted as she pumped her arm, ready to go.  Dipper pulled out a compass he had and began to lead them in the direction the journal mentioned.

 

Roughly an hour later Dipper and Mabel are near one of the small rivers that run through Gravity Falls.  They had been walking through the forest and following the compass, and the directions in the Journal.  “Are we there yet?” Mabel enquires. 

“Not yet Mabel, and for the last time stop asking.  The directions were thorough so we have to follow it exactly or we could get lost.”

“I bet we are already lost.  I think I saw that tree a while ago.”  Dipper looks up; yea that tree does look familiar.  He shakes the feeling off. _That can’t be right_ , he thinks, _I spent hours translating this_.  Mabel walks up to him. 

“Dipper did you hear that?”  They stop for a second, Dipper doesn’t hear anything.

“What do you hear?” 

Mabel gets uncomfortably close to him. “I hear a dork getting lost.  Let me look at the page.”  Dipper hands her the Journal.  No way are we lost he thinks. 

“Mabel, I think I know what I’m doing, after all I’m the one who . . .” 

Mabel cuts him off.  “Dipper, these directions are written backwards.”

Dipper stops and looks at the book with his sister.  “What?  How can they be. . . “ As he does he sees that Mabel is right.  The directions were written so that you would have to follow them backwards for them to make any sense.  She was right, they are completely lost. 

“Dipper do you hear that?”  _Not this again_ , Dipper thinks. 

“No Mabel, I don’t hear me being lost, but you’re right we’re lost.”

“No not that.  Listen.”  Mabel quiets down.  Dipper concentrates too.  He hears it, the sound of growling.  It sounds like a cat’s growl.  Dipper and Mabel both look around in time to see a small wildcat come out of the bushes.  Both twins freeze.

“I think that’s a jaguar.”  Mabel gives him a confused look, cocking an eyebrow.

“Really, Dipper I thought you were the smart one.  That’s a cougar, the biggest cat in Oregon.”  Dipper slowly starts to back away from the cougar.

“Mabel, now is not the time to be debating what kind of cat it is, I think it wants to eat us.” Mabel turns to the cougar and after a second of realization she turns and runs away.  Dipper turns and follows as the cat roars and makes chase.

 

* * *

 

As I run away from the COUGAR with my brother only a few thoughts cross my mind.  Jaguar, really, Dipper thought this was a jaguar?  I know I’m the cat person but still, he’s supposed to be the one who knows all of this stuff.  I duck quickly under a big tree root and look back just time to see the cougar miss a swipe and catch the root, getting his claw stuck momentarily.  It won’t take him long to catch up, It think.  Oh how sadly right I was.

As we run into a clearing we reach the side a cliff.  I stop and look down.  The fall is got to be a hundred feet into a river, nothing in short distance to grab on to either.  The cougar catches up and starts to slowly advance up to us.  Dipper looks over the ledge and looks back at me. 

“Mabel, we have to jump.” I look back at him. Is he crazy, we can’t survive that. “Mabel, just trust me.  Grab on to me and jump.”  The cougar is getting into a stance, ready to pounce.  No choice, I guess.  I grab my brother and close my eyes.  We jump.

I hear the cougar pounce after us then the sound of the fast moving air hitting me.  Then a tug nearly causes me to lose my grip.  “You can open your eyes now Mabel.”  As I open them I look down.  We’re still forty feet above ground.  I look to the river and see the cougar fighting to swim as it is being washed away in the rapids.  As we slowly descend as I look to Dipper.  He’s holding my grappling hook!  “You’re not the only one who remembers something the other forgot.”

As we reach the ground Dipper retracts the grappling hook and hands it to me.  “I was just trying to find the best time to give it back to you.”  I take it and place it under my sweater. 

“Thanks brother.” As we hug I notice something behind him. 

“Anything for family”

I spot something behind him as we break from our hug. “Dipper, look!” He turns and we are now face to face with the monolith in the Journal.  Lichen and moss are overgrowing it but if I had to guess I would say it was about 15 feet tall. 

Dipper immediately pulled out the Journal and started writing in it.  I sit next to him as he does.  He’s in his element now.  I guess we can spend a few hours here before heading back.  I think I know the way back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still starting a little slowly but we are now gaining some speed. Next chapter/episode should start to feel more like Gravity Falls proper and a little less like the 10 year reunion.
> 
> Not to say that the astute wont start picking up on the things that are happening around Gravity Falls again.
> 
> Anyhow, Hope you like this one too. If you have any suggestion please feel free to leave a comment, and don't forget to bookmark me for additional chapters later.


	3. Cryptid Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gravity Falls has a new holiday and the Twins and Wendy are all set for festivities, but when a new foe comes to town they have to spring in action to protect the very forest they live in.

I looked at myself in the full length mirror as I compared the two shirts I was considering.  This mirror, Dad got me this mirror last year.  Told me it might make me more lady-like.  Not sure what his standards are but I don’t think it helps.  I guess he’s old fashioned in that manner.  I look over at a picture of my Dad, brothers, and me.  Maybe he is thinking of mom when he did this?

I decide to go with my normal green today.  As I look over to the outfit I made I see the hat, my hat.  It was a weird feeling, something different.  I’d never been on that side of it before.  I mean, Dipper was, is, just a kid.  He was too young for me anyway.  I mean, I didn’t even have feelings for him . . . I think. 

I shake it off.  I have enough things to worry about now without thinking about what may have been.  The outfit is ready.  Mabel would be proud of the work I put into it, then again it is going to be hot to be in that all day.  Don’t worry, I think, you’re just going to take it off after you see them again.

See them again.  My mind wanders back to them.  Will it be the same as last year, full of laughs and adventure, or will it be something different.  I look at the hat again.  Different, I think, but not so far off from what it was before.  Either way, I needed to get ready. 

 

* * *

 

 As Mabel and Dipper walked down the street they saw all of the festivals being prepared around them.  “I wonder what all of this is” Mabel said as she saw Sprott setting up his petting zoo near the town square. 

“It’s too early to be Pioneer Day.” Dipper replied as the two look curiously.  The twins walk down the sidewalk seeing Fiddleford McGucket trying to hang a sign by the town hall.  The twins look at the sign curiously but can’t make it out.

“I don’t get it.” Dipper gives a confused look at the sign.  Mabel thinks for a moment before getting an idea.  She turns around and does a hand stand to look at the sign upside down. “Mabel what are you doing.” Dipper looks down at his sister.

Mabel squints for a moment to read the sign. “Gravity Falls First Annual Cryptid Day?”  As Mabel falls over and gets back up she looks yells to McGucket “YOUR SIGN IS UPSIDE DOWN AGAIN!” 

Dipper realizes she is right, McGucket looks up at his sign and shouts out a quick “Dagnabbit” before undoing the sign and letting it fall to the ground.  As the twins chuckle Dipper looks at his sister. “I wonder what that means.  Did they invent a new holiday while we were gone?” As Mabel turns to reply she sees a large wolf like monster approaching behind Dipper.  Before she can say anything the monster bellows,

“Today is the day we get to come out and eat all of you!”  Dipper turns and jumps in fear.  As the twins begin to slowly back away the monster raises its claws in attack position and begins to approach the two. 

“I’m going to have me twins stew tonight!” The twins continue to back up until they both run into the edge of the petting zoo pen.  Realizing they are trapped Mabel pulls the grappling hook from her sweater, aiming it at the monster. 

“EAT HOT GRAPPLING HOOK!”

Mabel fires the grapple, knocking over the monster momentarily.  The twins are stunned that this actually worked but before either can make a break for it the monster speaks again, this time in a more familiar voice. 

“Jeez dudes, you didn’t have to go that far!” As the monster stands back up it removes the head revealing a costume with Wendy in it.  “Man Mabel, you’ve gotten good with that thing.  My chest still hurts and I think there about two inches of fur in this thing to absorb that impact.”  Mabel smiles, proud of her quick draw skills. 

“This is why I always recommend puffy stickers to absorb the impact.”

Mable and Wendy laugh as Dipper, still in shock, looks between them. “Wait, what’s going on?”  Wendy clears her throat and explains. 

“Well after all that happened last year the town came together and decided that instead of trying to hide what goes on around here would embrace it.  So thanks to a wandering minstrel presenting the idea at the town hall meeting it was decided to make this day Cryptid Day.”

“Hold on, they made a FULL DAY for the stuff my brother and I find?” 

Wendy nodded at Mabel. “Yea, we even got some of the ones who were with us during Bill’s thing last year to arrange for everyone to come into town.  The entire town was cool with it.  This place will probably be banging with gnomes and fairies and stuff later.”  Gnomes, Mabel thought, literally anything but those.

“Anyway, let me get changed out of this costume and I’ll show you two around at what we have planned.”  The twins nodded and followed Wendy away. “Dipper, I’m going to need your help with the zipper in the back.  I can’t quite reach it.”  Dipper gulped and Mabel giggled as they walked around the corner.

“Crypid Day eh?  I guess I picked a mighty fine time to show up in Gravity Falls.”  A man, wearing top to toe Khaki’s and an Australian outback hat said as he flipped his knife.

 

Dipper and Wendy were leaning against the fence as Mabel was petting Octavia in the pen.  “Man, Mabel really likes that cow for some reason.” 

Dipper nodded.  “Yea, she helped try to free it last year.  After she did though we realized that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for it to roam wild so it’s a good thing that Sprott and his sons caught it again.”  A small critter walks in front of Octavia as she grabs it with her tongue and eats it.

Wendy shudders at the sight before looking down at Dipper.  Her mind wanders back to the morning for a second.  “Hey Dipper.” Dipper looks up at her. “Yeah?” Wendy raises her finger and begins to say something but stops herself.  “Never mind.”  She pauses to find something to say.  “That hat looks good back on your head.”

Dipper takes of his hat and looks at it in his hands for a moment.  “I guess.  I almost wasn’t going to wear it but Mabel told me that I did really look like it was back in Gravity Falls without it.”  Dipper returns his hat to his head.

“I can see what she means, it’s kinda weird seeing you without a hat after all that time.”

Mabel stole a quick glance to Dipper and Wendy.  _Good they’re talking like normal_ , she thought.  Mabel had been worried that when Dipper officially gave up on Wendy that it would be awkward between the two.  Thankfully it looks like she was wrong.  It’s not like she had ever had an awkward breakup before.

As if on cue Mabel heard a familiar voice.  “Come over here, I love this big fluffy co. . . oh, Mabel.” The person was wearing all black, goth veil covering his face.  She knew who this was even through that.  It was Vladimire, a vampire she dated briefly last year before he mysteriously called off the relationship. 

“Oh, hey Vlad” She replied sheepishly.  “What are you doing here?”

“I, uh, was just coming out to see all of the wonderful things in town.  You know, to see the sights on this, err, wonderful holiday.”  The tension was thick in the air. “So how have you been?  Did you get a new boyfriend after we, you know, broke up?” 

Mabel thought to herself for a moment.  She needed someone, anyone to fit this bill.  She looked to Dipper. No, couldn’t use that fake out, who could she.  A terrible but brilliant thought popped into her mind.  She quickly looked around for a second to make sure the coast was clear.

“I did, and his name is Gideon.” Mabel tried to say as quietly as possible. 

At the Tent of Telepathy Gideon sneezed in the middle of his show. “Oh boy, Mabel must be talking about me!” 

Mabel took a quick glance to Dipper and Wendy who were now giving her the most quizzical stares she has ever had.  _Crud,_ she thought, _they heard her_.  She was going to have to explain this one later.

“Oh, that’s uh, nice.  I too am now seeing someone again.”  Mabel looked back at Vlad.  She was already positive that this was going to be some exotic beauty.  Vlad was always the kind of guy who could have any girl he wanted and she was sure he was dating a super model or something. “Mutt, come over he for a second.”  As Vlad call out a tall harry man walks out from behind Octavia.  He walks over and stands beside Vlad. “Mutt, this is Mabel.  She and I, well, we were friends last year.” 

Mutt looks down at Mabel, his wolf like face getting close to her as he sniffs her a little. “Sup,” he grunts.

“What a minute.  You mean you and Mutt are. . . “ Vlad blushes as Mutt stands back up.  Mutt nudges Vlad a little and holds his hand.

“Yes, Mabel, we’re together.”  Mabel’s jaw drops.  She would never have pegged Vlad going that way.  A pretty boy with perfect hair and skin, who was always well dressed, who always knew what to say to a girl to make her . . . Okay, now that she thinks about it this was super obvious.

“Turns out that, uh, sucking blood isn’t the only thing I like to do.”  She isn’t sure how she can tell but Mutt is blushing.  “Who knew?  I guess sometimes you just find something out about yourself.  Honestly I have you to think for that.  If we hadn’t dated for a while I would have never found Mutt.”  Vlad and Mutt grip their hand more tightly.  “Well, we’d better go.  Mutt wanted to see the sheep before the big announcement later.”  Mabel waves goodbye as the two walk off to the next pen.  Dipper and Wendy approach.

“And what is this about you dating Gideon.”  Mabel’s face goes red with both embarrassment and anger.  She turns to Dipper and hits him squarely in his shoulder.

“You will say nothing about this ever again, got that!”  Dipper nods at this sister while rubbing his shoulder.  _She was serious about that_ , he thought.

“So who was that?” Wendy asked as she placed her hands on her hips. 

“Just someone I dated briefly last year.  He is a vampire.” She pauses for a second. “And apparently the only person I dated who wasn’t actually in to me.”  Dipper gives Mabel a quizzical look.

“I thought you were joking about that.”

Mabel shook her head. “I told you before, I don’t tell you everything I do.”

As Wendy chuckles Toby’s voice can be heard over a loudspeaker that was set up near the stage by the town hall.  “Gravity Falls, can I have your attention please.  If everyone would make their way to the stage we will get these festivities kicked off!”  The townsfolk start to walk to the stage. 

“Guess that’s our cue, we better make our way over there too.”  The three turn to leave the Petting Zoo and head to the stage.

 

* * *

 

The crowd has gathered around the large stage, Mayor Tyler stands getting ready for a speech.  On his left sits Sheriff Blubs, Deputy Durland, Preston Northwest, and Toot-Toot McBumbersnazzle.  On his right sits several of the forest’s inhabitants, Multi-bear, Jeff, Chutzpar the Manotaur, and a fairy.  Tyler clears his throat. 

“Citizens of Gravity Falls, we are gathered here today to celebrate the creatures of the forest who, even when it looked like we were going to get it, get it, last year, stuck around with us.  We wish to show them our appreciation by acknowledging them the best way we can.  Thanks to the wise words of Toot-Toot during the town meeting last March we have decided to have this day forever be the day when we ask these creatures to come out of the forest and reaffirm our friendship.”

The crowd claps excitedly at this.  Tyler continues.  “Now if you would all put a few rounds of applause together for Multi-bear, who wishes to give a short speech to kick off the festivities.”  Multi-Bear rises from his seat as Tyler steps back and offers him the podium.  His other heads roar as he yells at them to be silent.  Once they have calmed down he moves up to the microphone and begins speaking. 

“Citizens of Gravity Falls, I am Multi-Bear, chosen representative of the forest this year.  Much has happened in the last year and I would like to extend my many paws out to you in friendship and respect.  For years we have hidden from you and you have shied away from us.  Let today be the beginning of something new.”  The crowd gave a roaring round of applause.  As it reached a peak Multi-Bear began to smile.  Suddenly a large knife flew out from the crowd and implanted itself the podium.  The crowd parts to show the man from earlier standing there with a camera phone on a stick.

“Crikey!  All my years hunting cryptids I’ve never heard of a town that accepted them.”  The man walked up to the stage and jumped up.  He pulled his knife out of the podium.  “A Multi-Bear, vicious beast of the forest.  His most defining traits are his multiple heads and his love of BABBA music.”  Multi-Bear back away at this.

“HA, KNEW YOU WERE A PANZY!” Chutzpar shouts out as he stands and points to Multi-Bear.  The figure turns to him and approaches. 

“Manotaur, Aggressive beast whose sole focus is pure manliness.  Nothing to be afraid of if you are secure in your own masculinity.”  Chutzpar shirks back at this sitting down at what may be a more manly predator. 

The man continued.  “Gnomes, weak pitiful, afraid of most gardening instruments.” Jeff gives the man an angry look. As he starts to say something the man walks on.  “Fairies, playful little things.  They will often steal things you leave around and occasionally trick wanderers.  You just have to be careful and make sure everything you have is secure and you will be fine.”  The fairy crosses her arms and pouts as the man walks back to the podium.  He stops and looks at Multi-Bear.

“You say you were picked to represent the forest but I know that can’t be true.  Cryptids have only one thing that can represent them, the biggest, meanest, and most powerful of the cryptids, the Guardian of the Forest!”  Multi-Bear shows surprise at this and steps back.

“Who are you, how do you know about the Guardian?”  The man takes the podium and looks at the crowd. “I’m Steve Logan, Cryptid Hunter.  I’m going to find and bag the Guardian of the Forest and we’re going to film the whole thing!”

The crowd reacts in shock at this.  “This sounds bad.” Dipper says as he, Mabel, and Wendy look on.  

Mabel turns to Dipper. “We can’t let him do that, can we?”  Dipper turns and looks at Wendy and Mabel.

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling we can’t.”  As the three look back to the stage Toby is approaching to interview the Cryptid hunter with this new recording device, a sponge.

 

A few minutes later the crowd had dispersed.  The town square was becoming full of the festivities as more and more of the inhabitants of the forest appeared.  Mabel, Dipper, and Wendy, however, were trying to gather more info on Steve Logan at the library.  Mabel and Wendy stood behind Dipper as he searched the internet.  “It says here that Steve Logan is the world’s most renowned cryptid hunter.  Wherever he goes and finds “cryptids” inevitably become hot spots for tourist activity looking for the same thing he saw.”

“That can’t be good.  Can you imagine of the town were flooded with people looking for the same thing this guy is?”  The two looked at Wendy as she asked this.

“Well at least Soos would be getting a lot of business from this.” Mabel pointed out. 

“Yea, but they will be looking for this Guardian, not the Shack.” Wendy affirmed.

“Either way we should go talk to Multi-Bear and see what he knows about the guardian.  Maybe we can help him if we know more.”  Wendy and Mabel nodded in agreement.  The three left the Library to go look for Multi-Bear.

 

It didn’t take long to find him.  Eight feet tall on hind legs and almost a ton, Multi-Bear hadn’t gone far from where the last saw him.  He sat behind the stage along with Jeff and Chutzpar.  They are quietly conversing when Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy approach. 

“This is a disaster, how does a human know about the guardian?” 

Chutzpar flexes his muscles as he replies. “Can’t be from me.  We Manotaurs don’t even go anywhere near the guardian.  Never have, never will.”  The two turn to Jeff. 

“Hey don’t look at me.  The Gnomes are still trying to find a new queen.  Do you know how rowdy everyone gets when we don’t have a leader?”

The three creatures sigh as Dipper announces their presence.  “Ahem.”  The three creatures jump back, startled that anyone was there.   “Oh, Dipper you scared us.  What can I help you with?”  Dipper raised his hand.

“Actually, I think it’s you who need the help.”  The three creatures looked at each other for a second then their gaze returns to Dipper.

“Well I suppose I am able to bear the humiliation of asking for help.”

Chutzpar laughs “Panzy”

Multi-Bear gives him an angry look and Chutzpar backs away.  “I suppose it won’t hurt to show the three of you.  Follow me into the forest and I will explain on the way.”

 

As the group made their way into the deep forest Multi-Bear regaled the story.  “The Guardian has always been in Gravity Falls.  Whenever the forest creatures were in danger, or when one would get out of line the Guardian would show up and restore order.”  The group approached a cave inlayed into the ground.  “However last year changed things.  With all of what happened we thought the Guardian would save us, but as it was going to stop that creature who took over the town it was hit in a large energy blast that shot out of the pyramid structure that was floating over town.

“Sadly, the Guardian would not survive this, however before it left us it laid a single egg, its successor.” 

Mabel gives a quizzical look. “It lays eggs?” 

Multi-Bear nodded. “Yes, we have been trying to raise the offspring for some time now but . . . well you can see for yourself.”  Multi-Bear motions to the cave. 

As the group descends into it they see large silk sacks strewn around the cave.  As the group reaches the deepest part a large furry worm like creature is laying on the ground cooing.

“IT’S SO CUTE!” Mabel exclaims as she runs up to pounce on it before anyone can stop her.  As she tries to cuddle with it she keeps getting caught in the hairs of the creature. 

“Mabel stop that!  You don’t know what that thing is!” Dipper exclaims as he berates his sister for her impulsiveness. 

“Aww, but is so fluffy.  Nothing this fluffy can be bad.”

“Indeed, the Guardian is quite placid.  This is what worries us actually.  Without a proper Guardian to help us when we need it I fear the forest is doomed.”  Chutzpar nods in agreement.  Jeff looks down on the ground. 

“It doesn’t matter if we find a queen if this guy doesn’t step up the plate.” 

Dipper looks at the Guardian again.  “Alright, we’ll help.   We just need to convince this Cryptid Hunter that the Guardian is a fake and he’ll leave, but how to do it?”  Dipper pondered out loud.

Everyone else in the room looks at Dipper for a moment while he catches up.  “Um, Dipper dude, you do remember you are living at the biggest place in town for fake stuff right?” Dipper looks up at Wendy; the realization of what she means crosses his face.

“THE SHACK!”  Mabel and Wendy laugh at Dipper while Multi-Bear looks confused. 

“What do you mean?”

“The place we are staying is full of fake mysteries and stuff.  I’m sure Soos has something that we can use to convince this guy that the Guardian is fake!” 

Wendy nods.  “Yeah, Soos has added a lot of new stuff to the place since you guys left.  Maybe he has something.” 

Mabel jumps off of the Guardian, which resumes cooing.  “How are we going to convince this guy to come to the shack?” 

A voice at the cave entrance rings out. “I think I know how to convince that guy” 

As the group looks a figure, shadowed by the light of the tunnel entrance steps forward.  Once far enough in the tunnel it becomes apparent it is Sherman Pines.  “I’ve dealt with this guy’s type before.  Just leave it to me and we’ll get him in the shack but you guys better have a backup plan in case this doesn’t work.”  The group nods and Wendy ponders something for a moment.

“Actually I may have something that we can use.  Hey Dipper want to help me out with it.”  Wendy asks impulsively _.  Crud, I just asked Dipper to go with me alone_ , she thought.  Some habits die hard she supposed. 

“Good idea, Mabel, you come with me and we’ll get this guys to the shack in no time.  I don’t know how long we’ll be able to hold him there though.”  The group nods at each other in understanding and begin to split up.

 

* * *

  

As Mabel and Sherman walk through the town square looking for the Cryptid Hunter Mabel asks. “So how do you intend to get him to the shack?”  Sherman stop and looks around.  He looks disappointed. 

“That’s easy, this guy is probably used to people being afraid of the creatures of the forest who blab on them, so since he won’t find that here he’s going to want a “friend” to give him a clue where this might be.  I say let’s be that friend.”  Mabel nods “Mabel, I can’t see him.  Wanna ride my shoulders and see if you can find him?”  Mabel jumps excitedly into Sherman’s waiting arms and he places her on his shoulders.

As she looks around while Sherman walks she looks down at him for a second. “Hey Grandpa Sherman, how did you know we were in the forest?” 

Sherman stops for a second and becomes flustered.  “Oh, um . . .” He stops to think. “I saw you guys walk off with that Bear thing and followed.”  Mabel ponders this for a second then replies with a cheerful “Okay!”  As she does she spots the hat of the hunter in the distance.

As the two approaches the hunter he is speaking with some random towns folk.  “Oy, you’re telling me you don’t know anything about the Guardian?  Not even a legend or a random tale passed down?”  The townsfolk shake their heads and start to walk away. “Well, this has been the most depressing hunt I’ve ever been on.  I guess I’ll have to explore the forest myself.  This could take a while.” The hunter says into the camera.

“Ahem, excuse me. Mr. Cryptid Hunter?” Sherman calls out as the hunter turns around.

“Crikey, are you two just adorable.  Please, call me Steve.  What can I do for you?”  Steve reaches out with his hand and shakes Sherman’s, then Mabel’s hand. 

“Steve, my granddaughter and I couldn’t happen to overhear that you were having trouble finding info on this guardian thing you were looking for.  Maybe we can help if we can get an idea of how you found out about it.”

“Well it don’t hurt telling a friendly stranger, after all.  Here, this page was given to me by a viewer.” Steve pulls out a page and hands it to Sherman who looks at it and hands it to Mabel. “The beast was listed on that page and there is some gobbledygook on the back. Had someone look at it thinking it would help me find out about the beast but the person who translated it told me it was unrelated.”

Mabel looks at the page for a moment, a thought crossing her mind.  “Hey mister, do you mind if I keep this page for a while?  My brother is really into this stuff and he might like it.”  Steve laughed for a moment. 

“Please, don’t be so formal with me.  Call me Steve, or at least Mr. Logan.   You say you’ve got a brother who might like this.  That’s wonderful.  I’ve got few copies of it already so you can go ahead and keep that one until I can get you another copy.  If your brother likes it tell him to talk to me, maybe we can work out a cameo for him on my show.”

Mabel pockets the page.  Sherman motions for Steve to follow them.  “I think I know a place that might have more info on the beastie than you’re going to find here.  If you are willing to take a short drive with me we can be there in no time.” 

Steve cheerfully puffs up at this.  “Well that would be mighty fine of you.  If you don’t mind, after you.”  Sherman walks off to his car as Steve follows.

 

As Wendy, Dipper, and Jeff walked in the forest a squirrel ran up to Jeff and whispered something in Jeff’s ear, running off afterwards.  “Tim just told me that they are on their way to the shack.  We don’t have a lot of time left.  Are we almost there yet?” 

Wendy gives Jeff an annoyed look. “Settle down man, were almost there.”  As Wendy moves some branches out of the way she reveals a small clearing with a wooden statue in the center.  The statue looks almost demonic in nature.  “We’re here.”

“What is this place?” Dipper asks as he looks around.

“My dad told me once that he was inspired by my mom to make this weird statue.  He took me to it when I was little, got all sentimental on me.”  The two walk up the statue.  “I figured we could spruce it up a little and make it look like something more guardian like.”  Wendy turned around to give instructions to Jeff and Dipper, as she does she notices Jeff is gone.  “Well you guys . . . Wait, where’s Jeff?”  Dipper looks around too then shrugs.  “This is why you don’t trust a gnome to help with something.  Fine, Dipper you and I are going to start working on this..”

 

As Sherman pulls up to the Mystery Shack Steve lets outs a shout. “Crikey, there is a whole place here for things like this.  Who woulda thought that?”  Sherman gets out of the car and starts to walk to the museum entrance.

“Oh, and there is so much more inside than outside.  Follow me, the curator will probably know more.” 

As the group enters they see that the museum is empty of people.  “Hmm, he must be in the gift shop.  Mabel would be a dear and go get the curator for me?”  Mabel nods and winks and runs off to the gift shop.  “Now, while she is doing that feel free to take a look around at some of the oddities that have been found in Gravity Falls.”

As Mabel rounds the corner to the gift shop she sees Soos giving his farewell to several customers as they leave.  Melody stands behind a coat rack not far from him, obscured by the merchandise.  “Soos, Soos, we need your help.” Soos turns to see Mabel running at him. 

“Hey there dude, what can I do for you?” 

Mabel stops in front of him waving her hands back and forth in the air as if trying to visually explain.  “There is this guy in the museum he’s a big hunter and is trying to find the Guardian of the forest and we have to stop him and you have to help!” 

Soos tried to calm Mabel down. “Dude slow down.  I think I caught about half of that.”  Mabel stopped and took a big breath.

“There is this guy, Steve Logan, he hunts cryptids and he is trying to find the guardian of the forest here in town.  We met the guardian but it’s just this big baby harry worm thing and we don’t want him to find it.  He says if he does he is going to film it and make everyone come to Gravity Falls.” 

Soos ponders this for a minute.  “Huh, that would defiantly increase the profits at the shack if I had more business.”  Mabel pouts at him.  “Okay, okay, I was just kidding.  What do you need me to do?”

“We need you to convince him the Guardian isn’t real, or at least stall him until Dipper and Wendy prepare what they were doing.” 

Soos nods. “Leave it to me, Mr. Mystery is on the case!” 

Soos starts to walk to the kitchen.  “Uhh, Soos, he’s in the museum.”  Soos stops and turns around laughing.

“Dude, I knew that.” He walks into the hallway towards the museum. 

“As you can see, these are the creatures the great and wondrous curator has captured over the years.  If anyone knows where the guardian is it is Mr. Mystery.” Steve leans in close to examine an exhibit.

“Roostdeer, Beavercorn, Teledove?  Most of these aren’t real, or at least I haven’t heard of them.” He looks at Sherman with a discerning eye. “Are you sure this, Mr. Mystery, is reputable?  I am after all the world’s foremost cryptological hunter.”

“You doubt the wonder that I have collected here at the Mystery Shack?”  As the two turn they see Soos walking in from the hallway. “I’ll have you know the founder of the Mystery Shack and I personally hunted all of these beasts down!” Steve seems to perk up at the mention of hunting.

“So you say the two of you captured all of these?”  Soos nods.

“Of course dude.  Mr. Pines and I go way back.  Here let me give you the guided tour.”  Soos begins to show Steve around the museum. 

 

Wendy and Dipper stand back and look at their creation.  “Nice work dude.  You really know your way around camo these days.” 

Dipper smiled at the compliment.  “Yea, Mabel’s been getting really into different colors and clothing lately, I guess I just got dragged along and happened to learn a few things myself.”  A rustling in the bushes catches both of their attention. 

“Jeff, where have you been?” They cry out simultaneously as Jeff exits the bush.

“Geez, sorry, I had to check on something.  Anyway I wanted to let you know that your buddies are on their way here with that hunter.  They should be here any minute now.”  Wendy and Dipper look at each other, for a moment with shock on their faces then turn back to Jeff who is trying to escape again. 

“Where are you going?” Dipper shouts.

“Somewhere away from here.  I don’t want to be around when all of this goes down.”

As Jeff dipped out of sight the sound of muffle voices can be heard.  “This way Mr. Logan, the guardian is just in this clearing.”  Soos enters the clearing first, followed by Mabel and Sherman.  After a moment Steve exits the forest.

“Crikey, this was what you wanted to show me?  This is the guardian?” He looks up to the statue, now decorated with leaves, branches, and other forest items.  “Are you sure that’s it?”

Steve walks up to the statue and starts to pull some of the debris off of it.  “Well this looks like it all right, but it’s just a statue.  Where’s the real one?”  He looks back at Soos. 

“Sorry dude, the real one was caught years ago.  We ended up losing the body in a remodel of the Shack so we erected a statue of it in honor of the hunt.”

Steve looks angry for a moment then calm.  “I bet it was some hunt.  This beast looks like it could have taken ten men to take down, let alone you and that Mr. Pines fellow.”  He puts his hand on the statue. “I wish I could have been there.  The hunt is all I really have. My show is wonderful and it lets me do the thing I love to do, but to be honest it gets lonely.”  His tone gets more saddened. “I used to have a partner you know, a long time ago.  But those days are gone.”

Steve perks up as he turns around.  “Well I guess there’s nothing to be done about this. I know, how about we get together and take one big picture together, a memento of the hunt.  Good or bad they come to an end someday and a picture is the best way to keep the memory alive.”  The group looks at each other and a few shrugs later they gather around the base of the statue. “Alright, everyone say ‘Crikey!’”

The group shouts out simultaneously “CRIKEY!”

 

* * *

 

As Steve packs up his things and talks with Sherman and Soos I stand there looking back at the statue.  I still don’t understand why dad made this statue so many years ago, or why he thought of mom doing it.  I look down and Mabel is sneaking up on Dipper.  As she jumps on him she pulls something from her pocket as the grownups leave.  “Hey Dipper look at this!”  She shows him a piece of paper.  Dipper takes a look at it for a second and pulls a journal from his pack.  Wait, journal?  When did Dipper get a new one?

Dipper began to flip through the pages until he stopped at one.  “I knew it, that’s why the clues didn’t make any sense on this page.   The journal is incomplete!  I thought it looked like some pages had been removed.”  Dipper places the page in the location that he feels it should be.  As I take a closer look at the image on one side I realized what it is. 

“Dipper look.”  As we all do I realize the page has the statue we that is standing right behind us.  “How is this possible? It looks like how we made it too.”

“Dipper you have to find the rest of the pages now, even I’m interested.” Mabel exclaims. 

“Yeah, but where are they and how did that guy get a page?”  We all look up in the direction that Steve left.

“He told Grandpa Sherman and me that he got it by mail from a viewer of his show.”  As we begin to walk to where the adults left I think to myself.  Well, I guess I was right; these two are going to bring me on a new adventure.  I laugh a little.  Well I guess I do have something new to worry about now.

 

* * *

  

Multi-Bear watched as the group walked away from the statue.  He breathed a sigh of relief.  “It worked, they managed to get that guy to leave.”  As he turned around a chill filled the air.  He saw a shadow hiding behind a tree. “G, Guardian what are you doing out here?” 

A sultry voice replies to him.  “Were you able to protect my identity?  They must not know who I am yet.” 

Multi-Bear bowed his heads for to the guardian.  “Not at all.  We protected your secret from them.  They think the guardian is that large silk worm that we found. No one would speak of your identity after all you did for us before.”

The shadow faded and with fading voice said, “Good, in time I will meet her on my own terms, but that time is not now.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I removed the original cipher as block text doesn't work too well in the age of auto translators, especially for people who want to do them by hand. I may add another one to this later but for now I will leave it blank.
> 
> Anyhow, first actual "normal" adventure the group has. Hope you like it. I admittedly hit a bit of a block a while in so some of the things I originally planned got cut for later or removed entirely.


	4. Death in the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a long time member of the Pines family passes away the gang find a way bring get her back.

I let out a groan as I rolled over and sat up.  Jeez Soos did you have to find the world’s oldest mattress for us?  I look down and check the tag on the side of the bed.  Made in 1976.  Hey, that was the same year as the one I had in my bedro . . . oh, wait.  This IS the one I had in my bedroom.  Soos must have moved it down here when we came.  Never remember it being this stiff before.  As I look over at my brother still sleeping I realize I never had two people on it either.

I let out a big yawn as I walked towards the elevator.  Without looking I hit the button.  The door closes and the elevator starts going down.  I rub my eyes as I look down and realize I hit the 3 button.  I step out as the elevator reaches the floor and I take a look around.  I guess this old habit dies hard, huh?  I realize the lab is still a mess as I walk up to the control panel.  I thought Ford would have cleaned it up a little but I guess not.

Ford.  You spend 30 years trying to get him back and he barely gives you the time of day.  Spending nine months with him at sea going from place to place should have brought you together but it still doesn’t feel like you have reconnected.   I sigh as I walk into the portal room.  All of the pieces of the portal are stacked up in piles.  I guess someone has been down here. 

I hear the crack of glass as I step on something.  I notice the picture frame below me feet. I remember this picture; I took it last summer when the kids came to town.  Oh those were the days.  As I stare at the picture a thought crosses my mind, wasn’t Mabel on the left of the picture and Dipper the right?  Man I must be getting old to forget that.  I place the picture on the control panel and take one last look around the room before I head back to the elevator and up to the top floor.

 

* * *

 

As Stanley Pines entered the kitchen Dipper and Mabel were sitting at the table.  Dipper was reading his new journal as Mabel was finishing her waffles.  Stan pulled up a chair and sat down, he looked around momentarily before calling out. 

“SOOS!  COME MAKE ME SOME WAFFLES!” Mabel and Dipper looked up from their respective activities. 

“Grunkle Stan, Soos had to work in the museum early this morning so he can’t hear you.” Mabel informed him as she took another bite of her waffles.

Stan grumbled to himself and got up.  He made his way over to the kitchen counter and pulled out the coffee grounds.  _Better just keep with some coffee then_ , he thought to himself. 

“I still can’t believe that there are so many pages missing from the book.  No wonder none of it made sense, it was worse than when Grunkle Ford wrote about the Gremgoblin and the warning was on the next page.”  Stan looked over as the maker started to brew. 

“What’s that?”

Dipper raises the book as Stan walks over to show him the new page.  Looks like some sort of statue, Stan thought.  The page lists “Guardian of the Forest” whiles the rest in encoded so Stan didn’t understand it. 

“I’m trying to figure out the code for this but so far I can’t seem to put my finger on it.”  Stan looks at the picture and shrugs; yup he knew he would be no help.  As the coffee maker slowly winds down Stan returns his attention to his morning pick me up.

“Well, good luck with that one.  I want nothing to do with journals this year.  Now that I have my brother back I swear them off.”  Stan pours himself a cup. “You kids can do all you want with it, I’m just happy we’re a family again.  No more Journals, no more portals, no more secrets.   Just the Pines being the Pines.”  Stan smiles as he returns to his seat. 

Mabel finishes with her waffles, a little syrup on her mouth.  “Grunkle Stan, what are you going to do today?”  Stan looks over at Mabel and wipes the syrup from her mouth.

“Ford and I are going to go talk with Sherman again and see about his living arrangements.  He still hasn’t fully unpacked so we figured we would help him out.   Well, I figured we could help him out and Ford reluctantly agreed.”  Stan chuckled to himself.  He did have to do some convincing to get Ford to agree to go out again. 

“Grunkle Stan, what did you guys talk about when you left us the other day?”  Dipper asks as he looks up from his journal.  Stan had to think carefully, did he tell them everything; were they ready to hear the truth?  They are both 13 now, he thought, they can handle a little grown up talk. 

“Alright, well we started a little about what we had been doing the past 40 years, then Sherman, out of nowhere, asked us the last time we got la . . . “ Before Stan could finish his sentence a shout came from the door way

“STANLEY!” The three turn to see Ford standing in the doorway in his night robes.  “They’re still kids; you can’t talk about that stuff in front of them!”

Stan let out a titanic laugh as Dipper and Mabel looked on in confusion.  “Give me a break Ford, they’re teenagers now, they can handle a little adult talk.”  Dipper and Mabel look at each other for a second and both shudder as they realize what was going to be said. 

“On second thought Grunkle Stan, I think were good.” 

Stan shrugs, “Suit yourself Mabel.”

Ford shakes his head as he walks over to the kitchen counter and pulls another mug out of the cabinet.  He fills his mug with coffee and walks over to kitchen table.  “I take it we are still on to help Sherman out today?” 

Stan looks up at this brother, a look of annoyance on his face. “Unless you want to back out of it still?” 

Ford cocks an eye back at Stan. “Look, I told you, the machine sends a lot of data that I need to analyze.  If I’m not there when the proper data comes through . . . “ Stan shakes his head and turns back to the table and his mug.

“If you aren’t there then we will be fine.  Nothing is going to happen instantly.  We have all of the time in the world to do this, so relax.”  Stan looks over at Dipper for a second.  “Hey, you know what, how about you help Dipper figure out this new journal or something after we’re done.  Keep your mind occupied and you’ll worry less about that stupid machine.”  Mabel gets up from the table and takes her plate to the sink. 

“Stanley, I’ve already told him that I didn’t write it.  I don’t know how much help I would be.”  Dipper hands Ford the book as he looks more closely at some of the pages. 

“Come on Ford, you’ve always been into this crypto stuff, why don’t you give it a shot?”  Stanley muses.

Ford looks at his brother and then Dipper.  He hands the journal back to Dipper and sighs.  “Fine, I’ll give it a shot, but not now.  Don’t we have to be at Sherman’s place in a hour?”  Stan looks up at the clock.  Ford was right, they needed to get ready. 

“Alright, I’ll hit the showers first while you finish your coffee.”  Ford nodded as he took Mabel’s seat.   Stan rose and placed his mug in the sink and retreated into the hallway.  Mabel returned to the table and sat down in the open chair.  As Ford sipped his coffee Mabel began to ask him questions.

“Grunkle Ford, are you and Grunkle Stan really getting along again?” Ford nearly spit out his coffee at the question.

“What? Mabel, I, why would you even ask that?” 

Mabel gave him a concerned look. “I don’t know, it just feels like you two are still angry at each other all the time.”  Dipper nodded a little, confirming his sister’s view.

Ford signed and looked into his mug.  Maybe they were right; he still wasn’t really giving Stanley a chance.  Heck when he even apologized to him last year he still berated him immediately after.  Maybe Bill not being properly sealed was his fault.  The stop gap measure worked but there is always a chance that Stan could remember him.  No, he mustn’t think like that.  There was time for this later, he was here, he was now, and he had everyone around him.

This was more literal than even Ford though as while he was lost in his thoughts Mabel and Dipper were staring at him. 

“I think you broke him.” Mabel looked at her brother and shrugged.

“Maybe, I don’t know how geek minds work.”  She looked back at Ford. “Earth to Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Ford!”  Ford didn’t respond so Mabel decided to that drastic measures were in order.  She jumped off her seat and leaned over to Ford, kissing him on the cheek.  She giggles a little as Ford snaps out of his stupor. “Your scruffy face tickles Grunkle Ford.”

Ford raised his hand to his face, still partly in shock of what happened. 

“Thanks Mabel, I guess I just got lost in thought.” 

Mabel giggled. “It’s alright; Dipper gets lost in thought a lot too.” 

Dipper shakes his head.  “Grunkle Ford, I think if you keep hanging out with Grunkle Stan and Grandpa Sherman you will get used to them again.  You were away for a long time and even when you came back it was so chaotic.  If my sister and I have learned anything it’s that family will always be there for you.”  Mabel nodded in agreement with him. 

Ford realized they were right.  These kids were way smarter than he or his brother was 40 years ago.  Maybe time together with Stan and Sherman was the exact thing he needed to finally move on from what happened last year.  Ford smiles and starts to say something but before he can a shout comes from down the hallway. “Ford, your turn in the shower!  Make it snappy, I think I used up all of the hot water!”  The smile faded from his face.  Nope, he was right the first time.

 

Stan leaned against the Stanmobile as he waited for Ford to come out.  He actually felt bad about using most of the hot water but considering he was the fifth or sixth person this morning to use it there really wasn’t much choice.  Stan figured at some point they would have to get a new water heater, one that could support them all, but then again they were only there for the summer.  _Maybe Shermie will let them bathe at his house_ , he thought.

Stan looked down at this car, ’65 El Diablo he named the Stanmobile.  He saved and saved working odd job after odd job to get a car and nearly had enough by the time he was able to drive.  He was surprised when, while looking at used cars at a lot, Ford offered to cover what he needed to get this car with the tutoring jobs he had been working.  He owes this car a lot over the years too.  After Pa threw him out this was his home for the most part.  He traveled the country, and others, with it.  It may be old, like him, but it still was going strong.

As Ford came out of the shack and started walking to him Stan called out. “You ready yet?  We’re going to be late meeting Shermie.”  Ford gave him an angry look as he approached.  Stan could tell that his hair was still wet.  “Yea, sorry about the water, I just don’t think that the heater can handle everyone and Soos likes to take long showers.” 

Ford sighed and shook his head.  “It’s fine Stanley, let’s just get on the road.”

The two of them entered the car and buckled up.  Stan inserted his key into the ignition and turned.  As he did a horrible grinding sound came from the engine, followed by a loud bang. 

“That didn’t sound good.” Ford quipped.

Stan tried the ignition again, nothing.  Ford looked over at his brother who now wore a face of pure horror. 

“No, this can’t be.  You gotta start for me!”  Stan tried the key again and again and again, each time nothing happened.

“Stanley, it sounds like your engine broke down.”  Ford gets out of the car and starts to walk to the front. “Pop the hood, I’m not really a mechanic per se but I’ve seen a few engines in my travels.  Maybe I could take a look and figure it out.” 

Stan slowly reached down for the hood release.  As he pulled he thought to himself _, this isn’t the first time something has happened to her_.  He thought back a few years ago when a timing belt broke.  Soos fixed that one up easily, maybe this is something similar.

Ford poked around in the engine for a while.  What was probably only a few minutes felt like an hour to Stan.  Finally Ford closed the hood and walked over to Stan’s window.  Stan’s hands were still tightly gripping the steering wheel. 

“I’m sorry Stanley; it looks like the entire engine would have to be replaced. The wear and tear on it was too much and it must have given out.”

Stan started shaking his head.  “No, that can’t be real.  She can’t give out on me now. We still had so much we wanted to do, so many places we wanted to go.”  Ford looked confused at his brother. He didn’t understand why Stan was freaking out so much about this.

“Stanley, it may be time for you to get a new car.”

Dipper and Mabel, both of whom had heard the loud bang of the engine made their way over from the shack.  “What happened here?” Dipper asked as they approached.  As Ford turned to them he began to explain. 

“It seems Stan’s car has finally given up the ghost, so to speak.  Unfortunately without a new engine for it we will have to go get him a new one.”  Mabel looked like she was about to break into tears as she ran over and gave the car a hug. 

“Thanks for everything.  You were so special to us.”

Ford looked at Mabel with the same confused look he gave Stan.  I guess emotionalism runs in the family. 

“So what now?” Dipper looked at Ford again after peeling his sister of the car.

“I suppose we will have to call a tow truck for the car, but first we should probably go shopping for a new one.  Does anyone around here sell cars?”  Dipper and Mabel looked at each other, knowing the answer but also knowing Stan won’t like it.

 

* * *

 

As the golf cart pulled up to the Gleeful Used Auto lot Stan started to groan.  “Can’t we go to another town to find a new car?  This is like pouring lemon juice and salt on a cut.”  Ford rolled his eyes as he put the cart in park. 

“This can’t be that bad.  You’re a grown man, you have to deal with little set back now and again.”  Stan shook his head as he stood up out of the cart.

“No, it’s not buying the car that’s the bad part it’s from who.”  Ford shook his head as he, Dipper, Mabel, and Stan walked on the lot. 

“I don’t know what you mean by that.”  As if on cue a voice called out them.

“Well, hello there.  If it isn’t my favorite buddy in the whole world, Stanley Pines!” the voice called out with a sarcastic southern accent.  This causes a bigger groan from Stan.  “Well, it’s the whole Pines clan here today isn’t it?”  Bud Gleeful approaches the group and offers his hand out to Ford.  “Bud Gleeful’s my name, I sell all these used cars you see on my lot.” 

Ford takes his hand and shakes it. “Pleasure to meet you Bud. My brother and I have had an unfortunate turn of events and we are looking for a new car to replace our old one.”

Bud nodded. “Yup, yup.  That ’65 El Diablo.  I figured it would give out on ya’ll sooner or later.”  Bud motioned to his lot.  “Well I have plenty of choices here for you so why don’t you take your time and look around.”  Ford looked back at Stan who was still sulking.

“I think we will.  Bud, you said it was?  We’ll come get you when we have some questions.”  Bud nodded and shook Fords hand again. 

“Alright, just give me a holler when you’re ready.”

As the group wandered the lot they split into two groups.  Mabel and Dipper began to wander the lot.  “What kind of car do you think Grunkle Stan will buy?” Mabel shrugged at her brother.

“I don’t know.  OH, maybe a race car with a unicorn sticker on the side.” 

Dipper cocked an eyebrow.  “I don’t think Grunkle Stan would be too into that.”  As the twins laughed another familiar voice was heard behind them.

“Well hello there.”  The twins turn to see Gideon standing behind them, dressed up in a business suit of his size.

“Hello Gideon.” Mabel says with a hint of disgust in her voice. 

“Hello Ms. Mabel, Mr. Dipper.  What brings you to my Father’s car lot today?”  Both of the twins look confused at him.

“Gideon, what are you doing here and why are you wearing a suit?”  Dipper asked with his eyebrow cocked.  Gideon gave a chuckle

“Well, Lil Old Gideon won’t lil for much longer so I figured I better learn a trade skill before that happens.  Can’t keep the tent going forever you know.”

Gideon showed off his new broach. “Father got me this when I agreed to help him.  Tells me it means I’m all grown up now.”  Mabel gave him a discerning look.  “Look I told you, I want it to be different from last year.  I don’t want to be your enemy anymore so please, let’s be friends.”  Gideon offered out his hand as Mabel looked like she was about to pounce on him. 

Dipper looked at his sister. “Mabel, calm down.  Just give him a chance.  Remember, new summer, new outlook.” 

Mabel pouted, refusing the handshake. “Mabel. . . “ She reached over and violently shook his hand.  “See was that so hard.  I didn’t have to resort to telling him what you said at the petting zoo either.”  Mabel gave her brother a horrified look as Gideon cocked his head curiously.

“What did she say?  Was it about me?”   

Dipper began, “Well she said that you wer . . . “ Mabel jumped out and cupped her hands over Dippers mouth.

“Not! Another!  Word!”

Dipper gave out a laugh under his sisters hands.  “Promise?” Dipper nodded and Mabel removed her hands. 

“I don’t get it.” Dipper looked at Gideon with a certain level of pity.

“It’s okay Gideon, I’m sure Mabel will tell you some time.”

 

As Stan and Ford walked around the lot Ford was not impressed.  “Most of these cars are in sore need of work themselves.  I would gander that we may just be better off buying the parts rather than the car itself.”  Stan put his hand on a mirror of one of the cars, it breaks under just the basic weight of his hand. 

“Yea, these really aren’t the best cars are they?”  Ford finishes his look and turns to Stan.

“So how much do you have set aside to spend right now?” 

Stan stopped and thought to himself.  After buying the Stan-O-War II, the docking fees, the supplies for their travels, and everything else they had been doing over the year he realized he was fairly tapped.  While working the Mystery Shack had been lucrative it had always been a consistent source of income for him.  Without it the expenses were piling up faster than he could ration them out. 

“Er, I guess I’ve got about a grand or two left to spend on things.”  That was a lie, if he spent that much he would be flat broke.  It dawned on Stan that he was going to have to seek employment somewhere, but that was a worry for tomorrow. 

“Hmm, none of these cars will work for that amount.” Ford scanned the lot again.  Most of the cars were well beyond that price range, at least the ones in workable condition. 

“Are you sure you can just fix my car?”  Ford turned back and met Stan’s gaze.  Stan was trying a puppy dog eye look, or a walrus, Ford just wasn’t sure which. 

“Look Stanley, I already told you, the entire engine gave out, without a good source of parts I won’t be able to fix it and there isn’t anywhere near here with that.”

“Why don’t you try Mr. McGucket’s old junk yard?” Bud said as he rounded the corner around a truck. “Didn’t mean to overhear but if you really want to fix that car of yours you might find the parts there.” 

Ford was surprised at this. “McGucket ran a junkyard?  Stanley, why didn’t you tell me?”  Stan gave his brother an annoyed look. 

“Because you never asked!  That old coot was your friend wasn’t he.  Why didn’t he tell you?”

Ford’s gave a look of regret. “I, I didn’t really have time.  After last year we barely had time to catch up and we were out to sea so quickly there was no time.”  Stan looked at his brother for a moment before turning his attention back to Bud. “Why are you telling us this now?”  Bud brightened as he gave his response. 

“Well, truth be told I am a big fan of the ’65 El Diablo.  I hate to see one go like that.”  Stan perked up, maybe he had Bud figured wrong.  “Plus I know you don’t have the money for any of my fine automobiles since you ran such a two bit show at the shack.”   Nevermind, he had Bud just right.

Ford and Stan made their way back to the cart as Stan called the kids back to them.  “Dipper! Mabel! Were leaving!”  As the two kids walked out of the lot they were followed by Gideon. 

“Grunkle Stan, did you decide on a car yet?” Mabel asked as she gave him a wide eyed look. 

“No, we’re going to check out the junkyard and see if Ford can find the parts to fix the car.” 

Gideon gleefully jumped up. “Oh, do you mind if I come along?” 

Stan cringed, this kid was his enemy, or had been last year.  Yet somehow he didn’t really care anymore about that.  “Fine, whatever, it’s not like this day can get any worse.  I’ll go call the tow truck and have them take the car to the junkyard so we can work on it there.”

 

* * *

  

As the tow truck drove away Stan took another look as his car.  _Just a little longer, we’ll have you fixed right up_ , he thought as he patted the hood of the car.  Stan turned around and took the place in.  It was a lot like it was last year.  McGucket’s old house acted like the guardhouse to the whole thing and was somehow still standing.  Stan squinted as he looked at it.  McSuckit?  What punk wrote that? He should give them a few pointers later.

Ford and the rest of the gang had already started to walk into the junkyard when Stan jogged to catch up with them. 

“Alright, what are we looking for here?”

 Ford detailed what he needed to the group to fix the engine by drawing the parts in the sand.

“Alright Stan, where do you think we’ll find those things?” 

Stan gave Ford a confused look. “I’ve never been here.” 

Dipper looked at Stan with a confused look.  “Didn’t you get a bunch of your exhibits from here?” 

“Yea, but I got those from McGucket’s shack over there.  I can’t think of a time I came in here.” 

Ford sighed. “Fine, we’ll break into two teams and go look for the stuff.  Dipper, you’re with me.  Stanley, you Mabel, and . . . what did you say your name was again?”

Gideon adjusted his collar. “Gideon Gleeful, at your service Mr. Pines.” 

“Right, you go with them and take the south side.  Dipper and I will take the north.  We’ll meet in the middle of the yard in an hour to figure out what we can find.”  Ford got up and motioned for Dipper to follow him.  As Dipper started to walk with him he watched behind him with a worried look on his face.

 

After a few minutes of looking Dipper stopped and looked up at Ford.

“Grunkle Ford, was that really a good idea?  I mean, you may not have known them last year but Grunkle Stan and Mabel hate Gideon.” 

Ford huffed as he moved some scrap metal out of his way. “Nonsense.  Mabel can get along with anyone and Stan, well Stan can survive a little time with someone he dislikes.” 

Dipper looked at Ford with a concerned look.  “Grunkle Ford is something wrong?  Ever since you two came back you have been at each other’s throats.  I thought you guys made up last year when you went out to sea.”

Ford threw the piece he was holding away. _Didn’t need that one anyway_ , he thought.  He looked over to Dipper.  This kid was smart.  Too smart if you asked him.  Ford gave a sigh.  “Dipper, it takes time for people to reconnect.  My brother and I spent 30 years apart and old wounds don’t mend in just a day.” 

“But it’s been almost a year!” Ford flung the piece he was looking at away in anger.

“Sometime wounds don’t heal at all!” He yelled as he shot Dipper an angry look.  Dipper backed off in a surprised panic.  _Oh no, I’ve done it now_ , Ford thought.  “Dipper I, I just think it is going to take a while longer for my brother and me to bond again.  I love him, I really do, but the pain of what happened still hurts.”  Ford leaned up against a pile of parts.  “We nearly lost everything to his bull headedness last year, if the memory gun hadn’t worked, well I don’t know what would have happened.”

Dipper walked over and placed his hand on Ford’s.  “Grunkle Ford, I won’t blame anyone for what happened, after all Mabel and I caused a fair share of it too.  However, you have to realize that Grunkle Stan just wanted you to acknowledge him again.  He wanted you to be brother again.”

Ford’s tone changed considerably. “You sound a lot like your grandfather, you know that.  Shermie said the same thing when we started bickering while we were at the diner.” 

Dipper perked up at the praise. “Grandpa Sherman knows a lot about that kind of thing.  After all, from his perspective he lost two brothers.” 

Ford stood up, a look of understanding in his face.  “Maybe I have been a little too hard on Stanley.  I suppose I can give it another go, we are brothers after all.”  Dipper nodded. “Alright Dipper, let’s get looking for those parts.”

 

As Dipper and Ford rounded the corner Stan, Mabel, and Gideon still stood with a bit of shock in their eyes.  Stan was the first to break the silence.  “Well that happened.   Guess my brother still has his commanding presence to him.”  Stan looked over at this new search party. 

As his group started in the other direction Gideon skipped along with them. “Never in a million year would I have thought that I would be hanging out with Stanley Pines and Mabel!  Plus we aren’t even trying to destroy each other this time!”

As they searched Gideon kept up his gleeful act and rambling.  Finally Stan had enough and snapped at him.  “Gideon, would you pipe down for a minute.”  Gideon fell back at this. “Why are you always like that?  Last year you wanted to destroy me and my family now you’re all buddy buddy?  I don’t get it, what’s your game?” Stan pressed on.  “I know you were after the Shack and the Journals but for what end.  What did you think they were going to give you ultimate power or something?  Heck the only thing you would have gotten out of it is an old portal and a bunch of my brothers failed experiments!” 

Stan sat down on a pile of junk, exhausted from his rant.

“Actually Stanley,” Gideon started, looking nervously at the ground. “I didn’t really know what I thought as going to happen when I got the journals. I was so fixated on getting them that I guess I didn’t plan it out any further than that.” 

Stan looked up at Gideon. “I guess we both have something common then.”  Mabel walked over and sat on the pile with Stan. “I was so fixated on getting my brother back that I didn’t even think about what would happen next.  I mean, I thought we would just go back to how we were as kids.  How wrong I was.”

“To be honest with you Gideon, I’m a little jealous.  You may not have had an end goal in mind but what you do have is all of time in the world to find something new.  Me on the other hand, I’m just too old to start over.”  Mabel laid her hand on Stan’s leg and he looked at her. 

Gideon straightened himself out and reached out with his hand. “You know Stanley, there is one thing you’re wrong about, you’re not too old for is to start over with me.  Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Gideon Gleeful.” 

Stan stood and looked at Gideon, offering his hand to Stan.  He thought about everything for a second then sighed at first then laughed.  “Alright Gideon, my name is Stanford . . . Stanley Pines.”  He reached out and shook.  “But please, call me Stan.”  The two laughed as Mabel looked on.  _Maybe she would give Gideon a chance_ , she thought.

“Well if that wasn’t the most heartwarming story I’ve ever done heard.”  A voice with a thick Louisiana accent called out from behind one of the piles.  A stout old man in Creole overalls stepped out from behind the pile.  He wipes a tear from his eye. 

“Who the heck are you?” Stan asks as he gets in between the kids and the man. 

“Names Slim Malbouffe.  I’m the owner of this here junkyard.  Pleased to make your acquaintance.”  The man offers out his hand.

Stan looks down and hesitates before shaking it, sizing the man up.  “Owner of this place?  It thought McGucket owned this?”  Slim smiles and places his hands on his hips at the mention of McGucket. 

“Oh that coot, what a riot he is.  Naw, he just rents out that there guardhouse from me as a lab.  I love what he did with the place, makes me feel right at home when I visit.  Anyway, now what brings you to my junkyard?” 

“We need to find the parts to fix my car out front.” Stan gets a thought. “Say, if you own this place you probably know where everything is, could you help us?”  Slim thinks for a moment. “I do reckon I could, but can’t.” 

Mabel squints in confusion. “What?”  

Slim motions to try to explain. “Well you see I know where you could find parts to fix a car but I can’t get to um right now.  You see there is a big monster thing made of all my parts hanging around.  Been a real pain in my neck since the end of last year.”

“What monster” Mabel asks.  As if on cue Dipper is heard screaming his girlish scream in the northern part of the junkyard followed by sounds of Fords magnet gun firing.  “Oh I reckon that would be him there.  Sounds like you have some friends who might be in trouble though.”  The trio looks at each other for just a moment before running of in the direction of the sound.

 

As Dipper and Ford ran around the corner away from the monster Ford turned around to take another pot shot at it.  The monster, made of spare parts, stood about twenty feet tall in a roughly humanoid shape grabbed a nearby washer and threw it at the two.  They narrowly ducked out of the way before the washer smashed into the ground. 

“What is that thing!?”  Dipper shouted as he ran. 

“I don’t know, I’ve never encountered anything like it before.  It seems resistant to the magnet gun’s effects, every time I pull off a piece it regenerates with another.”

As they rounded the next corner they realized they had run into a dead end. 

“AHHH” Dipper shouted. “We’re trapped!”  As the two turn around the monster rounds the corner, a smile of junk almost visible on its face. 

“Well Dipper, it was nice spending time with you.”  Ford said as he raised his magnet gun and fired away.

 

The last shout from Dipper had indicated they were close.  As the group rounded the corner they saw the monster standing over an unconscious Dipper and Ford. 

“Ford, Dipper!  You beast, you’re not gonna get away with that.”  Stan shouted in anger as he rolled up his sleeves and got his knuckles.  The monster turned its attention to Stan as he ducked in and out of the swings of the monster, punching ineffectively at its legs.  Mabel pulled out her grappling hook and charged the monster too, shooting it with the launcher.

Gideon stood back, amazed at the length the two were going for their siblings.  Never in a million years would he do this for someone else, when in danger run away, or at least call Ghost Face. _No!_ He thought to himself as he shook his head.  _That was the old me.  These are my friends now.  I’ve got to do something!_

Gideon looked around for something, anything he could use as a weapon.  Nothing was small enough for him to use.  He looked up at the fight as saw the monster take a big swing, narrowly missing Mabel.  His eye caught something, a small glowing part on the back of the neck.  Another swing at Stan gave him a better view; that had to be something.  How could he get up there though?

“EAT GRAPPLING HOOK YOU MONSTER!” Mabel shouted. 

 _Oh peaches and cream, of course Mabel had the answer_.  “MABEL! COME OVER HERE QUICK!”  Mabel shot him an angry look; she was in battle mode and still didn’t trust Gideon.  Gideon knew he had no choice; he ran over and tackled Mabel out of the way just as the monster would have hit her.  She struggled for a moment under his weight while he tried to speak.

“Mabel, MABEL! Listen to me! Please, just for a moment.”  She continued to struggle against him

“Gideon, this isn’t time for your stupid games!”  Gideon braced himself for a second.

“Mabel, this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me.”  He slapped Mabel across the face.  Mabel immediately seized up in shock.  “Listen to me Mabel, I think the monster has a weakness on the back of his neck.  I can’t get to it but you can with that grappling hook.” 

Mabel, still in shock, processed what Gideon was trying to tell her.  She looked up at the monster that was now going toe to toe with Stan, who was tiring out.  Mabel saw the glimmer of the object on the creature’s neck.  She pushed Gideon off of her and aimed the grappling hook.  She couldn’t get a clear shot.  Just as she does Stan takes a solid hit and is flung against some old mattresses, out cold. 

The monster turns back around to the two.  “Gideon, I can’t get to it.” 

Gideon braces himself for what he has to do next.

“Yes you can Mabel.  Just wait for the right time.” Mabel gives Gideon a worried look as he gets up and runs away from the monster.  He reaches the end of the path and turns around. “Come get me you big, big, toaster!”  The monster turns and starts to lumber towards Gideon.  “Now Mabel”

Mabel aims her grappling hook at the back of the monster.  The monster prepares a big swing at Gideon. “Any time Mabel!” She fires the hook, it catches on something on the back of the monster and she quickly hits the retract button.  The launcher pulls her to the back of the next of the monster where she sees a large cylinder on the back of the monsters neck.  She grabs it and yanks it out.

As she does the monster stops, fist inches from Gideon’s pompadour.  He opens one eye and sees the monster has stopped. 

“You did it Mabel!”  Mabel jumps down the monsters arm as it begins to collapse.  She stops for a second to think and hands the cylinder to Gideon.

“No Gideon, we did it.” Gideon takes part of the cylinder and smiles. 

“Together?” Mabel smiles back.

“Together.”  The two raise the cylinder and smash it on the ground. 

 As the light goes out Ford, Dipper, and Stan start to rouse.  “What happened, were not dead.” Stan stood up holding his head. “But my head feels like I should be.” 

“Mabel, Gideon, you did this?” Dipper ran over to his sister. 

Gideon and Mabel look at each other. “Yea, I guess we did.  High Five?” Mabel raises her arm.  Gideon hesitates for as second and gleefully gives her a high five. 

“Welp, that thar done that one in.”  The group turns around to see Slim behind them.  “I reckon I owe you for this one.  A car it was?  I think I can help you find the parts.  Follow me once you’ve gathered yourselves!” 

As the group starts to follow Ford stops Stan for a moment. “Stanley wait.  I just want to say . . . “

Stan interrupts him. “Don’t worry about it.  I’m gonna be there for you whether you like it or not.”  Ford nodded.

“Right.  Mystery Twins?” Stan put his arm around Ford’s shoulder and smiled.

“Mystery twins!”

 

* * *

  

As we pull out of the junkyard the sun was starting to come down.  I took a quick peak to the back seat, the kids were sound asleep.  This had been an interesting day.  I looked over at Ford, I could tell he was worn out working on the car, which I noted was purring like new.  Nothing else my brother is amazing when it comes to this stuff.  Ford roused for a moment.  “Stanley, what are we going to do now?” 

I thought to myself for a moment in silence.  Did he mean about us, about them, about everything.  “I don’t know.  30 years we have been doing this routine, now neither of us have a purpose anymore.  Maybe it’s time for a couple of old men to, I don’t know, become part of the world again.”

“Do you think we can?  Are we just too old?”  Maybe we are but I sure as heck wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

“Old, us?  We got plenty of years left.  We’ll just play it by ear.  I’m sure everything will work out.”  Ford paused for a second before responding.

“Stan, tell me honestly, do you actually have any savings left.” I paused, time to tell the truth I suppose.

“I’m broke.  The boat, the supplies, well everything, took all I had.  I was willing to do it for you but I didn’t think about what happened next.  I thought you would be smart enough to find some big treasure we could use to spend the last of our lives on.” 

Ford sighed.  “I guess I didn’t” 

“No, you didn’t, but you know what?  None of that matters.  As long as we’re together I’m sure it will all work out.”  Ford stared ahead a second before he said the one thing I was afraid he was going to say.

“Stanley, I think it’s time we got jobs in Gravity Falls.”  Sometimes my brother was smart, too smart.

 

* * *

 

As dusk fell in the junkyard the sound of heavy footsteps are heard.  A figure walks over to the broken cylinder.  The figure pulls out a book, a journal with the same markings on it as the one Dipper has but with a 5 on it instead of 4.  The figure opens the journal and begins flipping through it before stopping on a page and picking up the cylinder. 

“Now that thar thing is broken.  Them kids done in what does that earlier.”  The figure turns around, startled, to see Slim standing behind him with a lantern. 

The figure returns his attention to the cylinder and twists the top of it and pulls out a small, intact device.  Comparing the device to a drawing the book the figure places the device into a small pack and begins walking away. 

“Not a word of thinks? People these days done gone all rude on us.  Hmm, maybe I’ll go see me that McGucket guy and asking him to move back into the guardhouse, at least he knew how to socialize.”  Slim shrugs and walks off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hope I don't get slapped for this one. I hyped the death up for almost a week on a discord I'm on letting people guess it but nobody got it. 
> 
> Like 3, for the moment I have removed the old cipher and replaced it by the actual text. 
> 
> Things are picking up, there are more and more mysteries afoot and things are happening. Care to take a gander at what is going on now?


	5. Golden Opportunity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preston Northwest discovers something that may vastly increase the wealth of the Northwest Family, however it may come at a great cost for all of Gravity Falls. It is up to Dipper, Ford, and Pacifica to stop him before it's too late!

Looking over at the clock I see that it’s already 9 am.  I don’t really feel like getting up today but I know I’m going to have to soon.  My mind starts to wander over the events of earlier this week.  It felt odd, having someone who understood even the smallest bit of my struggle.  Those two used to be the bane of my existence yet somehow they were the ones driving it. 

My whole life had been planned out but then they came along and changed it.  That girl was an odd one, for sure.  I still can’t believe she got me all riled up like she actually was some kind of rival.  I mean, how could she actually rival me?  Then there was . . . him.  Why do I keep thinking of him?  He is a peasant compared to me.  It’s not like him inviting me to hang out made him any better.

Yet why do I want to go over to them, to talk to them right now?  I’m a Northwest, I should start acting like one again.  Yet I still want to do that, I want to be with them.  I just don’t understand it.  I don’t want to.  Yet for some reason I think I actually already know the answer. 

Maybe I’ll go hang out with them today.  Yea, that’s what I’ll do.  As I sat up on my bed I heard the ringing of the bell from downstairs.  I sigh; I guess it’s time to get up.

 

* * *

  

As Pacifica made her way down the stairs she looked around her house again.  _Daddy purchased this place not long after he made his money back_.  It was a little small for her taste, with only five bedrooms and three baths, but it would do.  As she reached her father’s study she saw her him looking over several maps. 

“Ah yes, Pacifica.  Bring me the other maps from the kitchen.“ Pacifica sighed.  One thing that she did miss was their butlers, who they didn’t bring back on since daddy said “We didn’t have the money for them anymore.”

As she entered the kitchen her mother was cutting some vegetables on the counter.  Of all of them Pricilla was the one who was strangely at ease with the changes around the house.  It was almost like she relished doing chores and cooking again.  Preston didn’t notice but she was a much happier person these days. 

“Hello darling.  If you’re looking for your father’s maps they are on the table.”  She pointed over with her knife at a crate of maps on the table. 

“What is daddy doing with all of these?”  Pacifica asks as she grabbed the crate. 

“Oh, I’m sure it’s another one of his plans to restore the full Northwest wealth.  He had someone pull those up and deliver them yesterday.” 

Of all of the people who DIDN’T adjust well to the change was Preston.  When he lost everything it became his life mission to get it back.  Why you would invest everything you had in something that caused your face to be rearranged Pacifica didn’t know but regardless he became obsessed with undoing his mistake.

As Pacifica reentered the room Preston didn’t even give her glance before instructing her to place the crate with the others.  She looked around and saw three additional crates on the floor with a few maps in them.  As she set the crate down one of the maps fell out, revealing a detailed map of Gravity Falls.  Pacifica picked up the map and studied for a moment. 

“Daddy, what are all these maps for?”

Preston turned his partial attention to his daughter and walked over and took the map.  He looked at it for a moment before returning to his drawing table. 

“Daddy?” 

Preston gave no glance in her direction.  Pacifica thought about just leaving.  That is what she would normally do except something inside her told her to press further.  She walked up to the drawing table and placed her hand over the map Preston was looking at.  This broke his concentration and he moved her arm.

“Pacifica, what are you doing?  Can’t you see I’m busy?”  Pacifica started to cower but an instinct came over her and she stood her ground. 

“Daddy, I tried to get your attention but you weren’t responding.” 

Preston sighed as he looked down at his daughter.  “What is it Pacifica?” 

Pacifica paused and thought about her words carefully.

“I just wanted to know what you were doing with all of these maps.” 

Preston stared at his daughter for a moment before responding.  “I’m gathering survey data from the gold rush in Gravity Falls from so many years ago.  I suspect that there may still be gold out there and I have been gathering data to find out where.” 

Pacifica picked up one of the maps.  Scribbles on it indicated that there was some sort of . . . something . . . in a ring around Gravity Falls. 

“Now if that is all stop bothering me”

Preston pushed his daughter out of the room and slammed the door.  As she stood there she realized she was still holding the map. Deciding to not bother her father again she folded it as neatly as she could and placed it in her pocket.  She walked back to the kitchen where her mother was just finishing her salad mixing. 

“Care for a salad dear?” 

Pacifica hopped up on a chair.  “No thanks mom.”  She put her head down on the counter.

“What’s the matter?  You look down.”  Pacifica sighed.  “Are you feeling okay dear?” 

Pacifica looked up at her mother; she had a concerned look on her face like she was thinking of something. 

“I’m okay mom; I guess I’m just feeling a little down right now.”  Pricilla started to make herself a bowl of salad.  

“Well why don’t you go out and play with your friends, that usually cheers you up.”

Pacifica cringed.  Her friends abandoned her why would she . . . her mind wandered to Dipper.  She was taken aback by this for a moment.  Why did she think of him?  He wasn’t a friend.  I mean, he did offer to be her friend but that doesn’t instantly make you friends. 

Pricilla sat down next to her daughter and started to eat her salad. 

“You can always go play mini-golf with them you want.  Wouldn’t that be fun right about now?” 

Pacifica looked up at her mother.  She thought of Mabel and the game they had last year. 

“Yea, maybe that would be fun.”  Pacifica got up and hugged her mother.  She definitely likes her mom better like this. 

“Alright dear, just be home by midnight, you don’t want to worry your father or me do you?” 

Pacifica nodded as she walked out of the door.

 

Dipper sat on the recliner, remote in hand, ready to watch another episode of his favorite show “Ghost Harassers.”  As the episode started the signal on the TV began to go fuzzy. 

“Not again!”

Dipper jumped up and tried to adjust the antenna.  No luck and the signal was getting worse by the second. 

“Arg, why won’t this stupid thing work?” Dipper shouted. 

Having expended himself on the effort Dipper stepped back and walked into the gift shop.  _Maybe Soos can fix it?_  

He looked around to see if he could find him.  The only person he saw was Melody standing obscured behind the statute of Grunkle Stan “The Founder.” Dipper thought about calling out to her but decided against it.  As he turned around Ford stepped out from behind the vending machine nearly running into Dipper. 

“Oh, sorry there Dipper, I didn’t see you there.” 

“It’s alright Grunkle Ford.”  Dipper grumbled. 

Ford gave him a concerned look. “What’s got your giblets?” 

Dipper gave Ford a confused look.  _Giblets?  Who uses that term anymore?_ Dipper recomposed himself before speaking. 

“It’s the TV, I can’t get the signal to come through and it’s all fuzzy.”

“Let me take a look.”  Ford walked into the living room with Dipper.  After a few seconds of poking around Ford spoke up.  “Hmm, interesting.  It seems the TV is having the same problems my device is.”  Ford turned to Dipper as he continued. “My anomaly tracker seems to be encountering some interference recently.  I wasn’t sure if it was just something I did or some outside source but I think this confirms that there is something causing the radio waves in the air to scramble.” 

Before Dipper could respond there was a knock on the back door.  The two of them look towards it and Dipper walks to door. 

Pacifica adjusted her shirt as she waited for someone to respond.  Lake foam green with little flowery designs on it, she knew she looked cool in this shirt.  She heard footsteps on the other side of the door.  _Lighter steps so it must be Mabel_ , she thought.  As the door opened revealing Dipper her smile faded. 

“Oh, it’s you.”  

Dipper responded sarcastically.  “Well hello to you too Pacifica.”

“Is Mabel around?  I wanted to see if she wanted to play mini-golf.” 

Dipper shook his head. “No, Mabel went out with Grunkle Stan and Grandpa Sherman this morning to help look for some chairs for Grandpa Sherman’s place.  I don’t think they are going to get back before late this evening.”  Pacifica gave a displeased look.

“Dipper, who’s at the door?”  Ford shouted from within.

“Nobody Grunkle Ford!” Pacifica put her hands on her hips. 

“I’m not nobody!”  She pushed past Dipper and entered the house. 

She remembered she had met Ford before, during the events of last year and vaguely remembered him being at the twins’ birthday party. 

“Hello there young miss, what is your name?” 

Pacifica curtsied “My name is Pacifica Northwest.”

Ford bowed himself for the sake of being courteous, “Northwest is it?  Now that I think of it are you Preston’s daughter?  That rowdy young man was always trying to get a peek into my house when he was young.  I think he actually made it in a few times when Fiddleford was here.  Actually, now that I think of it, he may have made off with a few of my things too.” 

Pacifica blushed; she had heard stories of her father when he was young from her mother.  Being a Northwest she wouldn’t put it past him to try something like that if daddy thought it would make him rich or famous.

“Look, I’m sorry if daddy stole something from you.”  Pacifica searched for an excuse as she started to make an ‘as a matter of fact face’ but before she could continue Ford cut her off. 

“Oh, that was 30 years ago, I can’t hold his daughter responsible for something her father did when he was her age now, can I?” 

Pacifica breathed a sigh of relief.  She guessed that it was one of the few things her family did that she wouldn’t have to atone for in the future.

“Thanks Mr. Pines.” 

Ford brightened up. “Please, call me Ford, or Mr. Ford if you must, my father was the Mr. Pines in the family.  Now, what is it that we can do for your?” 

Dipper approached from behind and stood beside her.

“Pacifica was looking for Mabel.  She wanted to hang out with her today.” 

Ford frowned and looked at Pacifica. “I’m sorry to hear that.  Mabel went out with my brothers to shop for furniture for my Sherman’s house and won’t be back till late.”

“That’s what I told her at the door.” Dipper turned to Pacifica and shrugged. “Sorry Pacifica, if you were looking to hang out with my sister then you’re just out of luck today.” Pacifica gave a disappointed look.  “I mean, I guess you can hang out with me if you want to.  I was just going to watch some TV but I can always use a friend with me.  We can make fun of the weird stuff that happens, what do you say?” 

Pacifica smiled as she looked at Dipper again. “Yea, I’d like that.” 

As the two walked over to sit on the recliner Dipper turned the TV back on, only to be reminded of the problem of a few minutes ago. 

“Right, I forgot the TV isn’t working.  Grunkle Ford, what do you think it will take to fix it?” 

Ford stopped and thought for a second.  “Hmm, I might have something that I can whip up in my lab to track the source.  Maybe then we can find and fix whatever is causing this.”  Dipper and Pacifica jumped out of the chair and followed Ford to his lab/room.

 

“Sorry about the cramped conditions down here, I haven’t had much chance to move things back down to the next level yet.”

 As the three entered the bedroom the bed was still unmade from where the two had slept the previous night.  The tracking machine was flashing with multiple red lights and the readouts were spouting out “ERROR” lines on the printouts.  Ford walked over to the workbench and began to rummage through some of the things on the table. 

As Dipper watched Ford Pacifica began to glance over at some of the items lying near her.  She focused in on a small remote with a green button on it. 

“Mr. Pines, ahem, Mr. Ford, what is this thing over here?”  Pacifica picks up the remote like device and holds it up for Ford to see. 

“Oh yes, that.  A good friend of mine gave me that during my travels.  It is a locator beacon.  If I hit that button he’ll come and help me, no matter where I’m at.”  Ford turned his attention back to the counter.  “He normally gives those out to people who he owes favors to, though in my case though I guess he just wanted me to have one as a friend.”

Pacifica replaced the remote and kept scanning the counter.  Most of it was junk but one other item caught her attention.  It was something that looked like some sort of futuristic steam punk gun.  On the back of the gun was a display that had “BILL CIPHER” on it. 

She knew that name from last year.  That was the name of the demon thing that took over the town.  She decided that it would be best to not touch anything with that things name on it.

“Eureka!” Ford turned and in his hands he had a small box-like device with two antennae on the top.  “I’ve tuned this to pick up the frequency that my scanner and the TV antennae are set to.  We just need to triangulate the position with this and we should be able to figure out what is causing the interference.”  Pacifica noticed that Dipper was excited.  She always pegged him as a geek and he defiantly didn’t disappoint. 

As the three returned to the family room they found that Abuelita has taken the recliner and was fast asleep. 

“Well, I guess we won’t be watching TV once we get back, sorry Pacifica.” 

Pacifica shrugged. “I mean, I guess that’s fine too.  I just wanted to hang out anyway.  If we go on your little adventure then we’re still doing stuff together.” 

Dipper smiled as he started to run for the stairs. “Alright, let me get my hat and pack and well head out” 

As Dipper ran up the stairs Ford looked Pacifica over for a moment.  He could tell why Dipper liked this girl.  She reminded him a bit of someone he knew from his time away.  This girl may be a Northwest but she was defiantly different than the ones he had met in the past.  Pacifica noticed that Ford was staring.

“Mr. Ford, is there something on my face?”

Ford broke from his trance. “Sorry, I was just, um.”  He searched for an excuse, thankfully he didn’t have to wait long before Dipper came running down the stairs and his out presented itself.

“Alright I’m ready!”  Ford looked at this tracker. “Excellent!  Just give me a moment to set up the calibration and we should be good to go.”  He gave a quick glance at Pacifica; she was still giving him a concerned look.  He knew he would have to think of an excuse at some point but thankfully he had time now.  As the device locked on to the initial point Ford realized it was probably somewhere in the deep woods.

“It seems like we may have a bit of hike to get to the first triangulation point.  Dipper you may want to go pack some snacks for the trip just in case.” 

Dipper nodded then grabbed Pacifica by the arm. “Alright, come on Pacifica, you can help me pick out something you might like too.” 

Pacifica shot Dipper an angry look as he pulled her to the kitchen.  “Let go of me, I’m perfectly capable of walking myse . . . “

As the kids walked out of earshot Ford looked at his scanner again.  The readings were strong, too strong.  Whatever this was, it was starting to put out a larger and larger disruption field.  What made no sense is why it was interfering with his anomaly scanner.  With the modifications that Dipper had given him all forms of interference should be a non issue.  Ford sighed as he looked up.  He was worried about this but until they find out what is going on there was nothing he could do about it.

As Dipper and Pacifica entered the kitchen Soos was finishing up a platter. 

“Oh hey dudes!  What up?” 

Dipper looked over to the platter.  Chocolate covered Pickles, Cheese covered eggs, and ice cream. 

“What’s all that for?”  Dipper points to the platter as Soos puts the last piece on it, a big strawberry.

“I’m making a treat for Melody.  She’s taking the rest of the day off today so I thought I would make her something special so she can relax!”  Pacifica eyes the items and gave Soos an amazed look. “Well, the kitchen’s all yours, I’ve gotta run this to her and get back to the museum. Later dudes!” 

Soos grabs the platter and starts to walk off. 

“Melody sure has some odd tastes.”  Dipper shrugs as Pacifica gives him a dumbfounded look.  Before Pacifica can say anything Dipper turns and opens the fridge. “Come take a look and see if there is anything you want.” 

Pacifica gave up on trying to talk and walks over to the fridge.  Looks like more of what Soos had plus some meats and veggies.  Dipper walked over to the pantry and pulled out some jerky and some trail mix. 

“Go on, you can grab anything you want.”

Dipper went back into the pantry and pulled out a loaf of bread and some peanut butter.  Pacifica walked over to the pantry and found more jerky, among other dry goods. 

“You guys have a lot of jerky in here.” 

Dipper looked up from the fridge with a jar of jelly.  “Yea, Grunkle Stan really likes beef jerky and Grunkle Ford isn’t that far behind.  The two of them can go through a package in under a minute if left alone.” 

Not finding anything she really wanted Pacifica returned to the table where Dipper was making sandwiches. 

“What are those?” Pacifica points to the sandwiches. 

Dipper stops and gives her an amazed look. “It’s a sandwich.”

Pacifica shoots him a sassy look back.  “I know that, what kind of sandwich is it?” 

Dipper finishes spreading peanut butter on one. “Wait, you’ve never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before?” 

Pacifica shakes her head.  “We mostly eat salads at my house now, but even before the sandwiches were fancier than that.”

Dipper finished making six sandwiches and packed them in bags, the placed them in his backpack.

“Well you’re in for a treat once we eat these then.  Anyway, if you didn’t see anything go grab those water bottles from the pantry and we’ll call it good.” 

Pacifica nodded and returned to the pantry where she saw a pair of water bottles. 

“Dipper, there’s only two in here.”  Dipper walked over and looked for more but wasn’t able to find any. 

“Guess we need to get more.  Nothing we can do about it now, just grab them and let’s go.” 

Pacifica grabbed the bottles and followed Dipper out of the kitchen.

 

Ford was waiting on the back porch when Dipper and Pacifica came out. 

“You guys find get everything?” 

Dipper nodded.  “Yea, I grabbed some trail mix and jerky, plus made us some sandwiches.” 

Ford moaned a little at the mention of jerky.  “Mmm, that sounds good.  Here let me take those water bottles from you.”  Ford reached down and grabbed the water bottles from Pacifica and placed them in the pack he had readied.  His was mostly full of survey equipment, plus a first aid kit.  _Best to be prepared,_ he thought.

 “Alright, if my estimate is right it should only take us about an hour or so to make it to the first triangulation location.  My guess is we should have this figured out in about three hours.”  Dipper and Pacifica nodded.  Ford put his pack on and turned to the forest and started walking while exclaiming.  “To Adventure!”  Dipper and Pacifica laughed with each other as they followed him.

 

* * *

  

As the group reached the clearing near a hill Ford wiped the sweat from his brow.  He slowed his pace a moment, nearly losing Dipper and Pacifica.

“Hold up you two.” 

The two turned to see Ford trying to catch his breath.  He used to take these kinds of walks in the past, and for a man in his sixties he was still in excellent shape, but age was starting to catch up to him. 

“Let’s take a break here and I’ll see if I can’t triangulate from here.” 

Ford sat down on a nearby stump and pulled the bottles of water from his pack.  He handed one to Dipper and took the other one for himself.  As he popped open the cap he stopped just before he was about to take a big swig.  A smell came from the bottle he recognized, this wasn’t water. 

“Dipper wait!” he shouted just as Dipper was about to take a drink.  “Let me see that bottle for a second.”

Dipper gave him a confused look as he handed him the bottle.  Ford took a whiff of the contents.  _Good_ , he thought, _this was just regular water_.  He capped the water bottle and handed it back to Dipper.  “Sorry about that. Turns out this one isn’t actually water.” 

“What is it?” Dipper asked as Ford took a swig of the contents. 

He cringed a moment as the liquid burned down his throat.  This was defiantly what they picked up when they were in Russia alright, why Stan transferred it to this water bottle is beyond him. 

“This is,” Ford paused for a second to think of an answer. “This is turnip juice.  I think it’s expired at this point.  We picked up some for an experiment that Stanley and I performed but it’s still drinkable, just not really that tasty.”

Dipper nodded and uncapped the water bottle again.  _Good, he bought it. Wouldn’t want these kids exposed to this stuff at their age._   Pacifica looked like she was about to say something as Dipper raised the bottle to his lips and took a big gulp.  As he lowered the bottle he handed it Pacifica who took it and began to stare at the opening for a moment.  Ford watched as she slowly raised it to her lips and drank.  _Guess she isn’t used to drinking after someone_ , he thought.

Ford looked at his watch.  It’s been about an hour and a half since they started.  He grabbed the tracker from his bag.  The tracker was defiantly pointing in a different direction now.  He should be able to triangulate where it is based on his readings here and at the shack.  Dipper walked up with a few sticks of Jerky in his hands and offered one to Ford.

“Want one?  I think it’s still too early to eat but this might be a nice pick me up.”  Ford smiled as he took one of the sticks and bit into the savory dried meat.  He didn’t know what it was about jerky that excited him so but he loved it.

After talking another swig of the liquid in his bottle he searched his bag for a map.  He pulled out the one he got from Soos earlier.  Sadly the quality was more homage of the town than an actual map.  He started to draw on the map but quickly realized the scale wouldn’t allow him to do his work. 

“This blasted thing is worthless.” He shouted as he crumpled the map and threw it back in the pack.

“What’s wrong Mr. Ford?” Pacifica asked, slightly scared of his tone.

“I may have made a stupid mistake.  The map I had was just a funny drawing someone put together to show general locations and not scale.  We may have to head back and get a proper map before we continue.” 

Dipper and Pacifica gave a disappointed look as they realized this may be the end of the adventure for today.  As Dipper began to pack up his things Pacifica had a realization.  She reached into her pocket. _Awesome!_ She thought.  She still had the map from this morning.  It was really old but it should be able to work. 

“Mr. Ford?  I may have a map.” Ford looked up from his pack as Pacifica walked over and offered him the map.  Ford looked at it for a moment. 

“This map is old, really old.  Where did you get this?” 

Pacifica explained the situation from this morning with her father and the maps.  Dipper and Ford listened carefully as they absorbed every moment. 

“Hmm, I believe I can use this map to help triangulate our position.”  Ford got out his pen and drawing compass while Dipper got out his compass for direction and they began to plot their location.  “Alright, it looks like the source of the interference is here.”  Ford indicated a location on the map, intersected with the ring.

“Interesting, Pacifica do you know what this ring is?” 

Pacifica shook her head. “I think it has to do with the gold rush but I don’t know the details.” 

Ford gave a concerned look.  He already had a bad feeling about this and it wasn’t going away. “Well, nothing we can do now.  Let’s head in the direction of the point.”

 

* * *

 

As the group approached their target the sounds of machines could be heard in the distance.  They picked up the pace a little, reaching the site in only a half hour.  Once there they saw multiple digging machines and heavy equipment.  As the three looked around they realized what the loudest of the sounds was.  A large stone obelisk was standing in the middle of the clear.  Several trucks were trying to pull it from the spot but it wasn’t budging. 

“What on earth are they doing her?”  Ford snapped as he started into the clearing.  He walked up to one of the men wearing a hard hat and got his attention.  “Excuse me.  What is it that you’re doing here?” 

The man turned around and removed his earmuffs. “What that? Sorry I couldn’t hear you.”  He motioned for Ford to follow away so they could talk. 

“What is going on?  What is all of this doing out here?”

“Oh, this?  We’re contracted by Mr. Northwest to dig up this area.  Apparently there is a deposit of gold underneath here and he wants to start a new mine here.  Problem is that big rock over there is in our best path for taking the samples we need.  Guess were making a bit of noise aren’t we?  Sorry about that, we should be done in a while.” 

Ford looked on at the obelisk in amazement, how could this thing be causing the interference.  Regular machines shouldn’t interfere with his equipment.  As he looked at the map he was holding again the pieces started to click.  A ring around Gravity Falls . . .  The barrier! 

It wasn’t the machines that were causing the interference it was the Weirdness Barrier around Gravity Falls.  It made so much sense now, for years he had studied how it worked but only figured on one way to disrupt it.  Somehow this stone must be something that amplifies the barrier and these people were disrupting it by trying to dig it up..

“You have to stop this!” Ford grabbed the man by the sides and shook him.  “You don’t understand what forces you’re messing with!  If this barrier drops untold damage could happen to the world.” 

The worker gave Ford a skeptical look.  “Jeez, don’t go all crazy on me.  I’m just doing what I’ve been paid to do.  If you want to stop this talk to Mr. Northwest, otherwise I’m going to have to ask you to leave, NOW.”  The worker made it his stance very firm.

Ford walked back to Dipper and Pacifica with his shoulders hung low, panicked look on his face. 

“What is it Grunkle Ford?” 

Ford pulled out the map and began to explain how he now theorized that this ring didn’t represent the “gold” in Gravity Falls but a conduit of metal being used to power the barrier around the town. 

“If this barrier goes down, who know what kind of weirdness will leak out?  Contained in Gravity Falls we can manage all of it, but out there?”  Ford gazed out into the distance beyond the cliffs.  “It could be a catastrophe.”

“Why don’t we just ask Mr. Northwest to stop?” 

Pacifica shook her head.  “Daddy’s not going to stop.  Once he’s got some weird idea in his head he sees it through until he either gets what he wants or he finds out it isn’t real.” 

Ford, frustrated, looked at the map. “We have to try, if this continues the damage will be irreversible!”

Ford turned and walked back to the worker.  “One more moment of your time.”

The worker removed his headgear again and gave Ford an annoyed look.  “What is it now?” 

Ford cleared his throat. “My apologies for that outburst but can you tell me where Mr. Northwest is now?”  The worker pointed over to a trailer set up not far from the site.  “Thank you.”  The worker nodded as he replaced his headgear and went back to work.

Ford waved over to Dipper and Pacifica to the trailer.  As the three reached the trailer they could hear muffled yelling from within.  Whoever it was did not sound happy.  Ford knocked on the door but got no response.  He tried the handle and found it unlocked.  He gave a glance to the kids before opening it. 

As he walked in the trailer Preston was on the phone screaming at someone.  Maps were strewn all around the office with hectic markings and the remainder of the office was a mess.

“I don’t care if your machines aren’t pulling it up.  No I don’t care what you have to do, blow it up if you think that would help.  Fine, just get it done.”  Preston slammed the phone back in the receiver.  “All of them incompetent.  One task and they can’t even get that done.”  Preston catches a glimpse of Ford in the corner of his eye and looks up.  “Oh what now?  What do you want?”

Ford steeled himself.  “Mr. Northwest,” Ford offered out his hand, “My name is Stanford Pines.  I’ve come here to ask that you stop this digging.  While you may not know it what you are doing will have a critical negative effect on the environment of Gravity Falls.” 

Preston stared at the outstretched hand for a moment before pushing it away. “Another hippie I see.  Always talking about the environment or such, I don’t care if I have to move a few rabbits, this gold mine is going to open or my name isn’t Preston Northwest!”

Ford was becoming agitated.  “Preston, listen to me.  Environment or not you can’t do this, there are forces beyond your control that you’re playing with that will have major negative consequences for everyone!” 

Preston walked up and started to poke Ford in the chest. “Listen here old man; nothing short of finding nothing is stopping this.  I’ve paid a lot of money to get his equipment and permits and some old coot isn’t going to stop me now!”

Pacifica listened as Ford and Preston began their shouting match.  Her eyes wandered around the office as the intensity grew.  She was used to her father being aggressive like this but it was odd to see someone able to stand their ground.  Dipper was standing there just watching in amazement as the two adults nearly seemed to be at blow over this.  Pacifica realized Dipper wasn’t going to be able to help and Ford wasn’t going to convince her father.

_There has to be another way_ , she thought.  She walked over to one of the sets of maps, looking back to see if her father noticed her there.  Nope, he was completely engrossed with Ford.  She returned her gaze to the maps.  These were old, way older than the one she had.  These must have been drafted around the time that Gravity Falls was established by her ancestor.  _Wait, that’s right, he didn’t establish the town did he?_   Something kept bugging Pacifica about these maps.  They were so different that the one that she gave to Dipper and Ford.

She took a closer look at one of the maps.  There was a signature at the bottom. 

“Dipper come here.” She whispered loudly to Dipper.  This broke his trance and he snuck over to her.  “Dipper look at this map.  It’s different than the rest.  This map doesn’t have the ring on it.” 

Dipper nodded. “Yeah, what about it?”  Pacifica pointed to the signature. “Can you make that out?” 

Dipper squinted hard at the map.  He couldn’t make out the signature exactly but he realizes he’s seen the signature somewhere else before.  Dipper stops and thinks, _Where have I see that signature._   He though hard and then it hit him.  This looked a lot like the signature of Nathaniel Northwest, the “founder” of Gravity Falls! 

“Pacifica, I think this is your Great Great Grandfathers map!”  Pacifica looked at the map again, the words now making sense.

She snuck over to another map, then another, then another.  They were all made by Nathaniel.  These maps must have been made in order to spur the gold rush.  There was no way that the data on these maps could be right if it was from the days of her ancestor. 

“Dipper I think I know what will stop daddy!”  The two snuck out of the trailer as Pacifica grabbed a few of the maps.

Just outside she unfurled the maps.

“Here get the one I gave you out.” 

Dipper nodded and pulled out the map they had acquired from earlier and placed them side by side. 

“See, look, the points that Nathaniel marked up were total guesses.  He had no idea where there was any gold.  It must have been a ploy to get money from stupid miners as Nathaniel would have to “sell” the land grants at the time.”

Dipper nodded as he looked at the maps.  She was right, these were total guesses.  Most of the old markings were all over the place. 

“Pacifica, that’s amazing, how did you know about this?” 

Pacifica blushed at the compliment.  She actually didn’t want to admit it but there were a few things you learn as a Northwest that you don’t learn just being normal, and how to fake something with the best was one of those things.

“I’m just smart, is that a problem?” 

Dipper shook his head. “No, that amazing.  I guess I was wrong about you on so many levels.” 

Pacifica’s face got even redder.  She didn’t know why she was reacting like this but it she kind of liked it. 

“Now what do we do with all of this?”

Pacifica stood up and looked at the trailer. “We just have to convince him he’s in the wrong place.”

The two stared at the maps for a while.  They were so entranced they didn’t realize that someone was standing behind them.  Ford cleared the throat to get their attention.  Both jumped up startled at the sudden interruption.

 “It looks like you two have something in mind.  Mind filling me in?”  Ford sat down as the two explained their findings.

“So we just need to convince him he’s in the wrong place?” 

Ford looked up at the obelisk as the workers were unloading a truck near it.  He realized they might not have a lot of time left.  _Time! That was it!_ Ford pulled out a blank paper from his pack and began quickly sketching on it.  Finished he showed the two his sketch.  It was a map of the area with different marks on it surrounding the ring. 

“I may not have a perfect memory but it looks like these were the areas that the maps stated were hits. Maybe if we show these to Preston as the areas already surveyed he’ll move to somewhere that isn’t.” Ford paused a second. “No, that won’t work; he won’t believe that these are misses and not hits.”

Pacifica looked at the old map again and nodded to herself.  “No, he will.”  The two looked at her. 

“If he realizes these maps are written by a Northwest and given to the public he’ll realize that they are meant to trick people.  He is a Northwest after all, it’s what a Northwest would do, we lie.”  Pacifica head hung low as she finished her statement. 

“Pacifica, not every Northwest lies for a bad reason.” She looked up as Dipper placed his hand on her shoulder.  She had a tear start to form in her eye which she quickly wiped.  Pacifica smiled and nodded.

Ford smiled at the two “Alright, we have plan of attack.”  He picked up the maps and walked back to the trailer door. “Wish me luck.”

Ford closed the door behind him as Dipper and Pacifica sat down near the entrance.  Pacifica put her head in her lap as Dipper looked at the map she had given him again.  She looked over at him.  He was thinking hard about something, she could tell. 

“What is it?” 

He looked at her “Hmm?” 

“What are you thinking about?” 

Dipper pulled out a journal from his pack and started to leaf through the pages. 

“Well, I was actually thinking about that big stone right there.  Mabel and I were wandering the other day and we found another one that the journal had mentioned.”  He showed her the page where it showed a decaying obelisk.  Dipper’s sketch and handwriting was visible on the same page. 

“I was thinking about where that was in relation to this map.  It think it was right about here.”  Dipper marks a little circle along the barrier path. 

As the two look at the map Pacifica’s stomach begins to rumble.  She goes pale as Dipper gives a little laugh. 

“Maybe it’s time we had those sandwiches.”  Dipper reaches in his pack and pulls two of the sandwiches out, along with the water bottle.  He hands one to Pacifica. 

“Well, bon appetite!”  Dipper takes a big bite out of his sandwich while Pacifica just stares at hers. 

The door behind them bursts open as a frustrated Preston shouts out to the workers “STOP THE EXCAVATION!”  The workers look up and give him a confused look, but stop just moments before they would finish setting up the explosives.  “IF YOU DETONATE THAT IT’S ON YOUR OWN DOLLAR!”  Preston walks down the stairs and toward the workers.

“Well, I’m not sure why that actually worked but it did.”  Ford said as he joined the kids. “I guess your family really doesn’t trust each other. The moment I told him that the site was wrong and who wrote the map he went pale and decided to move it to another place, far away from the barrier.” 

Pacifica looked at her father, arguing with the workers, with shock on her face.  She couldn’t believe that actually worked. 

“We better get out of here before he catches wind of either of you.  I’m sure that he won’t be happy if he finds out his own daughter helped to stop him!”  Ford offered his hand to help the two up.  Dipper took it and jumped up.  Pacifica was still in shock when Ford tapped her shoulder. 

She jumped up and started to egress with Dipper and Ford leading the way back into the forest.  Dipper was showing Ford the journal page and the map, trying to explain what he had to Pacifica about the location of the stones and the possibility of being more.  At that point it was just nerd talk to Pacifica so her mind started to wander.

 

* * *

  

Is this what they did everyday last year?  Adventures like this?  How did they keep this up?  I can barely believe that we were able to convince daddy that he was wrong.  He is always so stubborn. 

I feel a little sick as I realize I used the Northwest’s skill of lying to convince my daddy that he was wrong.  As I glance at Dipper I think of his words.  Maybe I really was okay lying this time, not all lies are for the wrong reasons, and even then, maybe I was actually right and Nathaniel really did try to trick gold miners into the city.

Mr. Ford and Dipper are talking about going around the entire ring and seeing if they can find any other stones.  I guess this adventure just lead into another one.  Can’t say I don’t want to go with them but I’m tired.  Maybe I’ll head back?  My stomach grumbles as I look down and realize I’m still holding the sandwich.  

Never in a million years would I have thought that I would have fun hanging out with Dipper or his crazy Great Uncle but I guess I would have been wrong to think that.  I did have fun today and this was still the first week of summer.  Maybe hanging out with them wouldn’t be such a bad thing this year after all.  I raised the sandwich to my mouth and took a big bite.   _Wow, this is actually really good!_

* * *

  

As night falls on the survey site the last of the workers drives off with their equipment.  As the truck drives by on the dirt road it passes by a man walking up the path.  This man, wearing a lab coat, goggles, and a dew rag enters the site and walks up the obelisk.  He grabs a stick and clears off the lichen and moss on it. 

“I guess I didn’t have to intervene after all.”  He looks down to a piece of paper in his hand, a ripped journal page.  On it the same circle seen on Dippers map shows ten locations, eight of them circles and two Xs.  One of the X’s is the location of this site.

“Guess I can’t discount how smart he is anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying a slightly different style for internal monologue. Tell me what you think of it and I might go back and rewrite the first four using it too.
> 
> Mysterious Note of the Week: DSL RH GSZG NZM?


	6. Messing With my Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan sets out to find a new job, but can he get one that suits him?

Mabel was bouncing on the bed singing some weird pop song she must have learned while Sherman was taking a look at the price tag.  I watched as he looked up at Mabel and back down at the price. 

“Think it’s bouncy enough for a grand?” Sherman asked Mabel.

She stopped for a moment and pondered the question. “Maybe for five hundred but not a thousand.”

Sherman laughed as Mabel started jumping again.  He stopped as he looked at me. 

“What’s the matter Stan?”

“How can you seriously consider dropping a grand on a mattress?  The one Ford and I sleep on was a hundred bucks.”

“Didn’t you buy that mattress thirty something years ago?  Either way being on my own and retired has its benefits.  I saved well while I worked, I can afford to take some luxuries now in my golden years.”

My gaze fell to the floor.  Saving up was something I did too.  Never would have expected in a million years I would be nearly out of money.  I sigh as I look back up at my brother.

“Stan what’s wrong?  You’ve seemed down ever since you got your car fixed.”

I guess there was no use hiding it from him anymore.  He’s my brother and I guess he has a right to know.

“Sherman, Ford and I are broke.”  I steeled myself before I said the next sentence.  “It’s time we found work again.”

 

* * *

 

 Stan sat at the table at Greasy’s Diner with the classifieds of the Gravity Falls Gossiper sprawled out in front of him.  Ford sat beside him and Sherman across.  The three brothers were scouring the want ads as Lazy Susan walked by.

“Another cup Mr. Pines?”

The three brothers looked up and began to respond at the same time.  They chuckled to each other before Sherman motioned to his brothers.

“I think I’ll be good” Ford responded.

“I’m good too” Stan also replied.

“I think I’ll take just one more myself then water after that.” Sherman said as he smiled at Susan.

Susan filled his mug back up full of the black gold.  Sherman took a sugar packet and poured the contents in as Susan took Stan and Ford’s empty mugs.  He mixed it up as she walked away and took a sip. 

“That’s the spot.  Susan makes coffee’s almost as good as my late wife’s.”

“That’s right; you said you were married last time we talked.  Whatever happened to your wife?” Ford asked as he looked up from the ads.

Sherman’s gaze dropped as Stan raises his to meet his brother.  He reached across the table to take Sherman’s hand.

“Ford, how can you be so smart and dumb all at the same time? Can’t you read the mood?”  Stan moved his burning gaze to Ford.

“I, I’m sorry, I should have realized.” Ford looked like he wanted to shrink to the size of a pebble.

“It’s alright.  It still hurts sometimes but I manage.  We were together for so long it almost doesn’t feel like it really she is really gone some days.”  Sherman took another sip of his coffee as he stared into it. “A few years back when we had just moved to California shortly after I retired she started to become sick.  We took her to see all sorts of doctors but there wasn’t anything they could do to help her.”

Ford and Stan looked at each other with sorrow in their eyes before returning their gaze to Sherman.

“She lived a while longer, much longer than they originally gave her.  I think she wanted to see Dipper and Mabel grown up before she went but . . . “ Sherman trailed off.

Both brothers were beside themselves on what to say next.  Stan had known about Sherman’s wife for some time and had known she passed but never really got many details due to his seclusion and his family’s belief that he was a bit of a crazy Uncle. 

Ford couldn’t have known, he was away for 30 years.  To his credit he had kept up for the first few years he was in Gravity Falls but once Bill became involved he started to break off contact.  Last he heard Sherman was in a serious relationship with someone but he never got the details nor met the person.

“Anyhow, enough about the past, were here to talk about your guys’ future.”

Sherman looked down at the ads before them again, engrossing himself so that he could get past that point in the conversation.  For his credit it was helping, he was focusing on the future not the past.  Ford and Stan looked at the ads again themselves. 

Five minutes passed in silence as the men scoured the ads.  Sherman was the first to speak up.

“What about this one?  Car Wash help wanted.  Run by old retired rocker from the east coast and his son.” 

Stan looked at the entry. He pondered the job for a moment before landing on the pay. 

“Next to nothing for pay and a lot of physical labor.  Maybe a good one for Dipper to do if he wants a job this summer but I think we’re too old for that.”

Ford circled an entry on one of the pages.  Stan looked over at him with a curious look.

“What did you find?”

“Math tutor for the high school.  Sounds like it doesn’t start until the end of summer but it could be something I could do.”

Stan cocked an eyebrow at his brother.

“I thought you said we were going right back out there after the summer was over.”

Ford gave a depressed sigh as he circled another entry.

“It won’t matter if we want to or not if we don’t have the money to make the trip.  If we have to delay a few months while we build up funds so be it.  After all, I have to admit, so far you have been right about it being quiet.  My machine hasn’t seen anything pop up since we got back and barring native interference we’ve been in good shape.”

Stan smiled at his brother as he realized that was Ford-speak for “Your right and I’m actually having fun _”_.  He turned his gaze back to the ads.  A few minutes of searching later, and a few additional unfortunate suggestions, caused Stan to get frustrated.  He stood up to stretch out.

“I’m going to take a little walk around.”  Stan said as he started for the door.

“We’ll be here” Sherman replied as he raised his mug to Stan.

As Stan stepped outside the brisk morning air hit him.  He felt a sense of refreshment as his hairs began to stand on end. 

“Some days, you just feel like you’re too old for any of this.” 

Stan began to meander down the sidewalk.  He couldn’t help but to mumble to himself.  He felt so old and useless these days, like he never really amounted to anything.  As Stan reached the phone booth he turned and leaned against it.

“Maybe there really isn’t anything out there for a guy like me.  I mean, this is all a young man’s game these days.  The shack was all I really had and that’s gone now.” Stan sighed. “What the use of an old con man like me.  All I have is my imagination and the ability to make a good story.”

A strong wind picked up and a flier that was attached to the phone booth breaks free and flies into Stan’s face.

“What the?  Stupid flier!  Why I outta!”

Stan grabs the flyer and prepares to crumple it up but stop to read it as something catches his attention.

“Gravity Falls Thespian Society is looking for a writer and director for their upcoming summer play.  Apply at the theater.  Must have an imagination and ability to make a good story.” 

The bottom of the flyer noted that the pay would be $$$ for a successful play.

“Hot Belgian Waffles! Being paid for making something up and telling people how to act?  This sounds like the perfect job for me!  I’ve gotta show this to Ford and Sherman.”

Stan jogged back towards the diner.  As he passed under the window Ford and Sherman were sitting at he overheard them talking.

“I’m sorry Sherman but I don’t think Stan has any marketable skills.  From what I can tell all he can do is lie well and get people to believe him.”

“Well you can’t just leave him out there on his own.  You’re his brother, and you a heck of a lot smarter than him, you have to be able to think of something!”

“I’m trying but it’s not easy.”  Ford sighed “Maybe Soos will take him back at the end of the summer.  I’m sure he is going to need the help with everything that is going on in his life.”

“You think Stan’s pride will take it?  To go back and basically beg the man you gave his dream job to for help?  I’m sure there is an amazing job out there for Stan just waiting to be had.”

“Well he may not have a choice at this point.  We can’t both live off tutoring salaries and I can’t expect Soos to put us up in his house for much longer after the summer is out.”

“You could always stay with me.  I have plenty of room in my house and being rightfully retired I should be able to keep you guys afloat with me for a while.”

“Sherman we can’t ask that of you.  We, no, I can’t have you sacrificing all you’ve done for us.”

Stan eye began to twitch as he eavesdropped on the conversation.  _How could they do this to me?  My own brothers are basically calling me useless now too!_ Stan felt his anger welling in him.  He wanted to storm in there and give the two a piece of his mind.  He looked at the flyer again.  _Maybe it’s time to go give these Thespians a visit!_

Stan stomped over to his car.  He knew he should tell Ford he was leaving but he was too angry to listen to reason.  He slammed his door hard enough he knew that they heard him.  As he turned the engine and backed up he saw Ford and Sherman looking out the window at him. 

As Stan’s car drove away Ford sat back down.

“I guess he heard us.”  Ford drooped his head as he realized what he just said.

“Yea, you two are a lot alike.  Both of you are really headstrong.  Must get that from Dad.”  Sherman finished his coffee and called for the tab.  “I guess I’ll give you a ride home.”

 

* * *

  

Stan fumed as he drove into town.  He’d show his brothers a thing or two.  This job could be his big break; he just needed a little push.  He just needed to do a little schmoozing and he would be in and Ford and Sherman would eat their words.

As Stan pulled up to the theater he took a gaze at the building.  _Oh right, this was the building Mabel had her little sock puppet thing in last year._ Stan noticed a big sign hanging of the awning of the building.  It took Stan a moment to make out the sign was upside down. _McGucket must have put that one up.  I wonder what’s up with him lately; he’s been making a lot of mistakes since he became Soos’s handyman._

After taking a moment to process the wording on the sign Stan realized it was announcing the tryouts for new play.  Stan nodded and steeled himself as he prepared to enter.  _Showtime!_

At the box office a young twenty something was standing behind the counter.  The girl, clad in full Goth attire, short hair, dark clothes, and the like was reading a copy of “Anti-Authority Weekly”.  Stan approached and leaned against the counter.

“Well hello there young lady, are you one of the Thespians I need to talk to about the opening?”

The girl barely raised her eyes for a moment before returning to the magazine.  She reached up and pointed to a door to the theater.

“Over there.  That’s where everyone is waiting.”

“Why thank you” Stan gave his nicest fake thanks.

_Jeez, I really hope that isn’t Wendy in the future._ Stan thought as he walked to the door.  _Alright, just schmooze a few other ladies and you’ve got yourself a job!_

As Stan entered the door to the theater proper he saw the room was full of people.  Probably half the town was in there with each holding different sets of paper.  On the stage was Toby Determined talking to three people in the front row.  A man standing by the door stopped Stan as he entered.

“I’ll need your name and the name of your play and I’ll get you a number.”

“Err, what is all of this?” Stan asked confused.

“We have a queue of people ahead of you.  Look do you want a number or not?”

Stan gulped.  He hadn’t been expecting any competition, let alone to need something right now.  He realized he was thoroughly unprepared for this.

“Yea, um, I left my play at home.”

The man shook his head.  “Right, just here for the director role then?  Alright, what’s your name?”

Stan started sweating as he replied; his voice a much louder than it should have been.

“Stanley Pines!”

One of the people in the front row stirred a bit at sound of his name.  The man by the door wrote the name down and gave Stan a ticket with a number on it. 

“Your 618, take a seat and they will call your number.”

Stan slowly took the ticket and moved to one of the empty seats.  Toby finished his pitch to the three sitting up in the front row.  One of the voices congragulated Toby.

“Excellent Mr. Determined, simply excellent.  Your play about a reporter finding love is one of the best we have heard all day.  We will greatly take it under consideration.  Just one question though, why did you provide the copy of the script written with crayons?”

Toby looked downtrodden as he replied.

“That was all I had to write with.”

_Heh, crayons, that’s actually kinda funny._ Stan thought to himself.

For nearly three hours Stan sat and waited as each person in turn came up and presented their play concepts.  _None of these are any good._ Stan thought to himself.  _I could write something better with just what happened here last year!_

Finally after nearly everyone had gone and the fifth “My Personal Story” in a row Stan became agitated. 

“This is all garbage.  None of these are good stories.  They’d all make crowds fall asleep before the curtain rose!” Stan said, not realizing he spoke out loud and not under his breath. “You could make better stuff with just what happened last summer.”

Free Pizza Guy was standing on stage and looked at Stan for a moment before crying and running off Stage.  Stan felt bad for a moment, he didn’t mean to hurt the guy’s feelings, he just felt like they could do more.

One of the people sitting in the front called to him. 

“Mr. Pines, if you would be so kind to come to the stage we could do your audition.”

Wait, Stan knew that voice.  He had a bad feeling as he walked up the isle to the stage.  As he climbed up and turned around he was greeted with a few familiar faces in the front row.  Bud Gleeful sat in the fron row with a big smile on his face.  _Oh boy, I thought I knew that voice._

To Bud’s left sat Preston Northwest, to his right that weird banjo minstrel with the head tattoos.  _What was his name again?_  Stan couldn’t remember it off of the top of his head.

“I reckon if you felt a need to shout that you have a wonderful play already ready for us?“  Bud said with a smirk.

“Yea, well about that . . . “

“Now come on Stan, don’t hold back on us.”

“Well, you see, it’s not quite done yet.”

“Aw come on Stan, don’t leave us in the dark.  Give us a little hint on what it’s about!”

Stan gritted his teeth.  He didn’t have anything.  Bud called his bluff and he was about to pay for it.  He thought hard, he couldn’t afford to lose this chance.   He needed something, anything to work with.  If he could just get that start then he knew that he could figure something out.  He looked up at his audience.  Bud was as happy as ever, ready to pounce on Stan if he slipped up, Preston seemed uninterested, and the other guy. . . 

The other guy seemed to be on the edge of his seat.  _This guy actually wants to hear what I have to say, doesn’t he?_  Stan thought.  _Sorry you’re going to be disappointed.  The only thing I’ve got was the stuff with my brother and kids last year._ Stan stopped for a second.  He had said it himself earlier.  Last year!  He just needed to spice it up a bit and he could make a good story about that!

“Okay Bud, you want to hear my story?”

Bud smirked as he nodded. “Of course Stanley, we’re all excited to hear what you have.”

Stan cleared his throat before beginning.  “My story is about a young knight who gives up his whole life to bring his brother back from an evil demon.   He meets two amazing young squires who accompany him on his adventure along with a princess and a jester.”

“Is that it?”

Stan grumbled a little.  “Of course not, I intend to have a music number in there too.”

“Oh wonderful, a musical!  Have your written all of the songs yet?”  The minstrel inquired.

“You see, that’s the thing.  I got stuck on the songs, which is why I didn’t have it here with me.” Stan lied, hoping to save himself with that.  Sadly it wasn’t to be.

“Oh, I can help with that.  I’ve written quite a few songs in my day on this banjo.  Just tell me what kind of song you want and I’ll make you a masterpiece.”

“Well Stan, I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d have anything.”  Bud stands and looks around the now cleared out theater.  “I guess we have our winner.  If you can produce the script to us in five days we’ll start casting everyone.”

“Five days?” Stan shouted.

“Why yes, didn’t you read the flier?  The show is in two weeks. So we need your script by then to get everything ready.”

Stan realized that wasn’t a lot of time.  He would have to work fast to make something decent, then again he’s worked under more stressful conditions.

“You have a deal.  Although with only five days I may have to cut out the musical numbers.”

“Wonderful Mr. Pines, you have our full support!” The Minstrel said as he jumped up to shake Stan’s hand.

_Oh boy, what did I get myself into?_   Stan though as he took the Minstrels hand.

 

* * *

  

As Stan pulled into the parking lot of the Mystery Shack he was deep in thought.  He wasn’t really sure how he was going to pull this off yet but he knew he had to; he put just about everything on the line.  As he got out of his car he watched as a group of tourists left the gift shop. 

Stan entered the gift shop to see Soos watching the tourists enter their vehicles out the window.  Melody was standing by the counter.  _Not much time left for her_ , Stan thought to himself as he turned back to Soos.

“Soos, can I talk with you for a minute?”

Soos turned around and walked over to Stan.  “Sure thing Mr. Pines. What can I do for you?”

“Soos, is there any chance I can borrow your office for a few days?  I need to write something and I’m going to need a place to do it quietly.”

“Oh dude, you got it.  If you need anything from me just ask.  Mi Casa es su Casa!”

Stan cocked an eyebrow. “Okay. . . “

“Dude, it mean’s this place is yours!”

“Oh right, thanks Soos.”

“No problem Mr. Pines. I’d do anything for you.”

“I really don’t know what I would do without you Soos.”

As Stan turned and walked toward the hallway he heard Soos whisper something under his breath but couldn’t make it out.  He turned to see what it was and as he did Dipper and Mabel entered the gift shop. 

“Hey Soos.” Mabel says as she walks in.

“Hey dudes, how’s it hanging?”

Stan realized this was his queue to leave and turned to the hallway once again.

 

As he opened the door to the office the musky air hit him.  That smell reminded him of the days he would spend in here going over the shack’s finances.   Toiling over the receipts and budgets, sometimes fudging the numbers to make them come out better.  The copier and the desk stood in the same places they always were, as if welcoming him back.

“It’s been a while old girl, hasn’t it.” Stan said out loud as he ran his hands over the desk.  Stan sat down at the desk and booted up the computer.  The machine buzzed to life as the old hardware was fed power.  The log in screen came up as the machine readied itself for Stan.

“Right, now I just gotta remember the password.” 

Stan gazed at the screen for a moment before typing in “Mystery Shack.”  The screen buzzed at him.  He tried several more passwords, all in vain.  Stan stood up and walked to the doorway before yelling down the hall.

“SOOS, WHATS THE PASSWORD TO THE COMPUTER!”

After a few seconds without response Stan walked down the hallway to the gift shop.  He looked around but didn’t see anyone.  Stan turned around and walked the hallway to the museum proper, again finding no one.  Finally Stan tried the kitchen where Melody was getting a glass of water.

“Melody, have you seen Soos?”

Melody turned to meet Stan as she took a drink of the water.

“He was in the gift shop the last I saw him.”

“Yea, I looked there and in the Museum too, he wasn’t there.”

“Sorry Stan, I don’t know where he is.  What did you need him for?”

“I need to know the password to his computer.  I’m trying to write something on it.”

Melody’s face sank in annoyance as she replied.  “It’s “I Love Stan Pines’, all one word, a number one for the I in Pines.”

Stan shirked a little, rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh, well . . . “  Stan trailed off for a moment before trying to change the subject.  “So how are you doing with the . . .”  He said as he started to point at Melody.

“I’m fine Stan; just go do what you were going to.”  She cut him off with her annoyance now completely palpable in her voice.

Stan realized this was his opportunity to leave and took it.  He turned and quickly walked back into the hallway.

As he returned to the office he shut the door behind him.  He sighed as he sat down.  _Nearly stepped on a land mine there,_ he thought to himself.  As he punched in the password the screen went to the desktop. 

“Yesh, so many folders, what the heck does Soos even do on this computer?  SDCC 2014 teaser trailer, Season 3 spoilers, the real reason I won’t do another season.  Soos, you naming scheme is really weird.”

Stan moved the mouse over to text editor.  It booted up and filled the screen.  Stan took a deep breath. 

“Here we go.”

With all of the enthusiasm of a man chained to a ball Stan stared at the screen for three hours, occasionally typing something then erasing it.  Finally realizing he was getting nowhere Stan stood up and walked to the window.  As he looked out he realized that the sun was nearly down.

“Man, this is going to be harder than I thought.  So much happened last year, why can’t I remember any of it?  I remember the thing with the Dino, and the whole zombie thing but I feel like I’m missing something.”

Stan turned back to the computer and started to go through the files.

“There’s gotta be something that will jog my memory in here.” 

After taking the time and opening all of Soos’s files, some of which he immediately regretted, Stan sat back, defeated.  As he began to think of what he would have to say to Bud and the others about why he couldn’t finish their play there was a knock on the door. 

“Grunkle Stan?”  The muffled voice of Dipper came through the doorway as he opened it.

“Hey there Dipper.” Stan responded as he tried to put on a good face.  It wasn’t working.  Dipper could easily tell that something was bothering Stan.

“Grunkle Stan, are you okay?” Dipper said as he walked up to Stan.  Stan turned and put tried to put on a fake smile for him, but gave up when he realized that Dipper wasn’t going to buy it.

“I’ll be fine.  I’m doing. . . a thing, about last year but I’m having trouble remember some stuff.”

“Maybe I can help?  I remember a lot about last year since I recorded a bunch of it in the journals.”

“Oh, maybe you ca. . . “ Stan paused.  _The journals! Oh you old fool why didn’t you think of those?  They had everything about what happened last year in them!_   “Dipper, where are the journals from last year?”

“Unfortunately when Bill showed up he burned them.  The only one I have is the one I got this year.” 

Once again the hope was gone for Stan.  He sulked back into the chair and leaned back while staring at the celling.  Why did Ford not write those things on a computer so he could still use them?  His gaze fell to the copier.   _I should have copied all three of the journals._ Once again another epiphany hit him.  He made a copy of Journal 3 and placed it a hidden compartment in the lab.  If it was still down there he could catch a break. 

“Dipper, I think I’ve got an idea for now. I’ll call you if I still need you but I want to do this on my own if I can.”

Dipper got up and started to walk to the door.  “Okay Grunkle Stan, I’m here if you need me.”

“One more thing Dipper,” Dipper stopped at the doorway for a moment and turned back to greet him.  Stan put on another smile, this one genuine. “Thanks.”  Dipper smiled back as he left room.

 

As Stan entered the basement lab he noticed it was even messier than last time, almost like someone was trying to tear the place apart to find something.  Stan couldn’t help but to think it was Ford looking for something he was missing, no one in their right mind would be down here otherwise.

As he approached the console Stan began to rummage around one of the panels.  He never really knew why he created this extra hidden spot, after all the lab was hidden from view anyway so there would be no reason to take the extra precautions.  Yet here he was about to open the panel again and it came in handy.

As he jimmied the panel open he saw them.  All of the copies of that journal lay before him.  The cataloged events from his brother right up to his disappearance and even a little bit of what Dipper had started to write in them until he gave the back book.  He never though he would need them again after he got Ford back, ironic that he did and what he was about to use them for.

Stan grabbed the stack and quickly returned to the elevator.  As he approached he saw it had gone to the second floor.  _Ford must be back._ Stan checked his watch. It was getting fairly late, he might have a few good hours of review and writing before he would have to hunker down himself.   

Stan hit the call button and waited.  As he did he thought about where he would sleep tonight.  It probably wasn’t a good idea to go to his room as he didn’t want Ford or Sherman to know about this yet.  As the elevator arrived he resided in himself that he might be sleeping in the office for a while.  _Oh well, such is the life of a writer._

 

* * *

  

Sleep left me quickly as I bounced up from my resting position.  I must have fallen asleep _,_ I thought as I looked over at the time. 

“6:18, almost morning huh?” I mumble to myself as I got up from the chair.  I had made progress last night but not a lot.  An outline, if nothing else but even with these notes it still wasn’t clicking.  I keep thinking to myself that there was something missing, something important and I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

I walked over to the window and open the blinds expecting to see the early morning sun coming in over the trees.  What I see instead has me startled. 

The landscape is bleak and lifeless; none of the trees have needles on them.  The sky is red and dark.  The very sight sends shivers running down my spine.  I back away and close the blinds but as I do the scattered papers of the journal start to fly around the room, around me.  One of the pages stops just a few feet in front of me.  On it a black clad triangle starts to move.  The figure arms fly off the page as it pulls itself out and in front of me.

“Oh yes! Free at last! Finally I can move again!

Deep down I feel like I know that figure, that I should have some level of fear or anger at it but I don’t know what it is.

“Well well well well well well well.  If it isn’t Stan Pines, my old buddy!”  The figures one eye stares at me.  I move myself into a more defensive stance.

“Look pal, I don’t know who you are or what’s going on but I’m warning you. . . “ I raise my fists, preparing for a fight.

“You don’t know who I am?  I’m your best friend Stan Pines.  We’re like college buddies, we’ve even shared the same living space!”

“None of my friends are black triangles, and I certainly don’t remember living with you.”

“You really don’t remember me do you Mackrel?”  The figure drooped its arms below its triangular body as it hovered there.  “We’ll that’s fine, I remember you!”

The figure floated over to the computer.  “I see you’re having a bit of trouble writing.  You know, I’ve been called a bit of a Muse myself.  How about we make a deal, I’ll help you with your story and you help me out with a tiny little problem I have?  How about it, do we have a deal.”

I lower my guard for a moment to consider his offer.

“I never walk into any deal without knowing what the other party wants first.  What do you want?”

“Oh you’re clever.  Alright then I’ll tell you.  I left a little something here a while ago and I want you to help me find it.  That’s it, do that for me and I’ll give you a story of a lifetime!”

I pondered the offer for a moment.  I really didn’t want any help with this but at the rate I was going I’d never make it.  The black triangle thing reached out to offer me its hand.

“Do we have a deal?”

I grabbed the creatures hand and shook it. “You have yourself a deal.  So what did you say your name was again?”

The entity put its hand up to its chin, I guess you could call that a chin, not really sure.

“Call me William.”

 

* * *

  

Deep in the forest, in a little lean-to two figures wake from their slumber.

“Did you feel that?”  One asks to the other.

“Yea, this can’t be a good sign.”

In unison the two nod and simultaneous speak. “We’re going to have to go see HIM again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh! Cliffhanger! Never written one of those before. 
> 
> Weird note, this episode is taking place at the same time as another episode (two technically if you count the opening). 
> 
> Cryptogram: 23-8-15 1-18-5 20-8-15-19-5 20-23-15 7-15-9-14-7 20-15 13-5-5-20?


	7. My Mind is playing tricks on me.

The sign said “DO NOT DISTURB, THAT DOES DOUBLE FOR YOUR FORD!”  I still wonder why Grunkle Stan put that sign up.  He’s been in there for four days now.  I shrug as turn and head to the kitchen. “He’ll probably tell me when he’s done.” I say as I skip along the hallway.

Grunkle Ford and Dipper are sitting at the table as I enter.  They’ve got the Journal open and a bunch of papers sprawled out around them.  They keep talking as I walk up to them.

“So we’ve established there are ten sites around the ring.” Ford said as Dipper nodded in agreement.

“What are you nerds talking about?” I ask as I sit down.

Dipper looked up to me and tried to explain.

“Remember that stone we found when we got here?”

“You mean the one you spent all day sketching?”

“Yea that one.  Turns out it’s just one of many.  Grunkle Ford and I found another one the other day when we were with Pacifica.”

Pacifica. That was an odd person for Dipper to bring up.  He’d been hanging out with her a lot lately.  He couldn’t be?  I shake my head at the thought that just crossed my mind.  Dipper wouldn’t feel that way about anyone else, not since he and Wendy broke up, there was just no way.

Before I or Dipper had a moment to say anything else the door down the hallway slammed open, grabbing everyone’s attention.

 

* * *

  

The door to the office that Stan was using flew open, hitting the wall as it did.  Stan proudly walked out of the office holding a set of papers.  He lets out a grand shout of accomplishment.

“HOT ZIGGETY SHE’S DONE!”

Stan made his way to the kitchen to grab a quick cup of coffee before going on to the theater to turn in the script and he couldn’t help but to skip a little.  Not that man pushing 70 should ever do that but he tried his best.  Upon reaching the kitchen however his mood changed.  Ford, Dipper, and Mabel were staring at him.  This stopped him cold in his tracks.

It dawned on Stan how long he had been in that room with no contact with anyone, and the fact that he hadn’t actually told anyone about what he was doing in there, or who was helping him.

“So, um, morning.” Stan managed to mumble out as he rubbed the back of his neck.  He tired to stammer out an apology to Ford. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened the other day.  I just, I don’t know. I just felt that you guys were underestimating me too much.”

Ford’s face drooped as he responded.  “It’s alright Stanley.  Sherman and I shouldn’t have discounted you so much.  I shouldn’t have discounted you.  You’ve shown you’re just as resourceful as I am, after all with just the journals you managed to get my portal working last year.”

Stan smirked a little.

“Yea, I guess I did.”  He looked at his watch. “Oh boy, look I’ve got to go but I’ll let you guys in on what I’ve been up to once get back.  You’re gonna love it.” 

Ford nodded as Stan ran out the back door.  Mabel twitched a little as Stan passed by, plugging her nose.  Dipper gave Mabel an inquisitive look as he noticed her twitching.

“Mabel, what’s wrong.”

Mabel turned her gaze to meet her brother with a horrified yet angry look on her face before throwing up one of her arms and shouting.

“WHY DON’T ANY OF THE MEN IN THIS FAMILY SHOWER REGULARLY?!  SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS ALL STINK!”

Ford and Dipper both looked at each other before doing a pit test.  They realized that they both may have been emitting an odor whereas Stan must have been emitting a strong musk.

She threw up her arms as she walked out of the room. 

“At least Soos and Melody have the decency to at least change their clothes every day.”

The two watched her go and then turned back to each other.

“I think it’s time to hit the shower.”

“Yup, I think I’ll run upstairs.”

The two males scrambled to their respective baths for a refresher and a change of clothes.

 

As Stan entered the theater he saw a new person at the counter.  Thirty something man wearing a suit and tie.  As he approached the man reeled back from him and covered his mouth.

“Can I help you?” The man got out in a muffled voice.

“I’m here to talk to the manager.  I have the script ready.”  Stan held up the pages of the script for the man to see.

“Upstairs on the right, first room to the left.”

“Thanks Bud!” Stan offered his hand to the man who gave him a disgusted look before waving him off.

 _What was up with that guy?_ Stan thought as he walked up the stairs.  As he reached the door Stan read off the name plate to himself. _Toot-Toot Director of Theater Operations, fancy title he’s got there. Alright Stan, this is your chance don’t blow it._  

Stan steeled himself for a moment before knocking on the door. 

“Come in” A muffled voice behind the door beckons him.  Stan opened the door to see the minstrel sitting in his chair behind his desk strumming a banjo.

“Ah, Mr. Pines.  It’s so wonderful to see you again.  How is your script coming along?  I do expect big things from you when you present it tomorrow.”

Stan entered the room and closed the door behind him.  As he approached the desk Toot-Toot stood up.  Stan pulled out the script and held it before him.  He hesitated for a second before offering the package to Toot-Toot.

“Actually, it’s done.  I finished it last night.  Here, take a look.”

Toot-Toot crossed from behind the desk to accept the script.  As he did he got a whiff of Stan’s scent.  Instead of reeling in disgust he took it in.

“Ah yes, I can smell the scent of creativity on you.  The perfume of one that is working hard!”

Toot-toot began to leaf through the script his face getting more excited the further he got.

“This is amazing Mr. Pines, even better than I could have imagined.  You took what happened last year and made a masterpiece of it.  There’s comedy, romance, tragedy, all of the ingredients for a show stopper!”

Stan smiled at the compliment. He was actually feeling proud of how it all came out.

“Well then, what’s the next step?”

Toot-toot looked up at him with a smile on his face. 

“Next step is casting!  We must get our heroes and villains for this play to be a success.  Do you have anyone in mind?  Someone who wants be an up and coming star?”

Stan thought for a second before giving a wicked grin.

“Absolutely!”

 

“Absolutely not!”  Dipper responded.

“But Dipper? I wrote the role with you in mind!”

Dipper sighed as he, Stan, and Mabel stood on the back porch of the shack.  Stan had come home moments before and ended up meeting them there.  He had explained a little about what he had been doing and that he wanted the two of them to be in the play.

“Aww Dipper, your no fun.  Come on, be in the play with me!” Mabel tried to give Dipper her puppy eyes.

“That’s not going to work.  There’s no way I’m going to be in that play. Nothing you can say can make me change my mind.”

“How are you ever going to get your own ghost show if you don’t learn how to act?”  Stan asked him.

Dipper became flustered for a moment but recovered. “Those shows aren’t scripted.  You don’t practice for when you find a ghost.”

Mabel put her arms on her hips. “Right, and you’re telling me they actually find ghosts outside of Gravity Falls?”

“Of course there are.  You don’t know everything Mabel.”  Dipper flustered again managed to stammer out as a response.  Visibly angry he turned back to the house and quipped one more time before slamming the door shut behind him.  “No, and that’s final!”

Stan sighed as his gaze fell back to Mabel.

“Well, are you in at least?”

“Oh, you know it.  There was no way I wasn’t going to be.”

“Good, cause without your brother I have no idea who’s going to play the hero anymore.”

“Don’t worry Grunkle Stan, I’ll talk some sense into him.” Mabel replied as she turned and entered the shack. 

Stan sighed as he turned back and started to walk down the path to the woods.  He was worried, sure, but he couldn’t let worry get to him yet and this walk might help him relieve some of that stress.  As he walked for a while he looked around decided to take a sit near a nice shady tree.  He was still tired from writing for four days straight and was in sore need of some good sleep.  He felt sleep start to take him and decided to just let it.  He wouldn’t be needed for a few days and he deserved a rest.  

He snapped to moments later.  He realized the landscape around him was darker than normal.  After four days of it he knew what this meant.  William was nearby.

“William, I know you’re out there.  What do you want now?”

The very landscape began to bend as the black triangular from of William appeared before him.

“Well good day to you too.”  The form lifted the top hat like shadow above its head in greeting.  “So Mackerel, a deal’s a deal, now it’s your turn to pay up.”

Stan sighed.  He did make this deal and shady as he might be he intended to keep his end of the bargain.

“Alright William, you said you left a something here, what was it?”

“That’s what I like about you, always to the point.” Stan gave him an annoyed look. “Fine, fine, I’ll tell you.  There’s a statue out there.  I just need you to find it at tell me where it is.”

“That’s it?   You wanted me to find you a statue?  No dice.  You’ve got to give me more than that.”

William cupped his hand up just below his eye for a second.

“Okay, how about this.”  William moves his hands like he expects something to come out of them, when it doesn’t he starts to get annoyed.  “Why isn’t this working?  Fine, I’ll just describe it.”

“Why isn’t what working?”

“Nothing you need to know about Mackerel.  Just look for one that looks like a big pyramid with two branch-like limbs and a big eye in the center, about this tall.”  William motioned the height.  “It’s somewhere here in Gravity Falls.  Just find it that’s it, our deal will be complete.”

“Somewhere out there?  How am I supposed to find it?”

“You’re a smart guy, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

As the creature finished his sentence the world started to fade to Stan again.

“How will I contact you once I find it?”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll, be, watching, you!” The creature replied as the world faded to black.

 

* * *

 

 “No, no that can’t be what’s causing this.” Ford exclaimed out loud as he was adjusting the dials on his tracking machine.  “I’ve already accounted for those variables.”

Stan entered the room from the elevator wearing just a bath towel around his waist.  He saw his brother was completely absorbed in the machines and readouts and looking like he was having a frantic time with it.  Stan walked over to the chest he was using as storage for his clothes and got a fresh pair of boxers and an undershirt.

After making himself decent he stood behind Ford for a moment, contemplating calling out to him.  He decided against it and started to make his way back to the chest to get the rest of his attire for the day.

“You know, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want.”  Ford said without turning around.  “I trust whatever you’re doing it’s keeping the best for the family in mind.”

Stan stopped rummaging through the chest and sat on the bed. 

“I’m not hiding it or anything.  I just wanted to make sure that I could do it before I tell you about it.”

Ford put down his instruments and turned around.  He looked at his brother who rested his head into his hands.

“I just didn’t want you to worry about me.  I know you and Sherman were concerned that I was going to struggle.  It made me so angry, not because you said it but because you were right.”  Stan looked up at his brother. “I figured that you were going to become some big famous scientist with all of your inventions as soon as you came back, but me?   Well I just didn’t have a plan after it all came down.”

Ford got up from his chair and sat next to Stan on the bed.

“So, tell me, what did you come up with?”

Stan gave a big smile as he began.  “Well the thing is, it turns out the theatre was looking for a play to put on and I figured who better in Gravity Falls to spin a tale than me?  Turns out the pay is really good too.  I’ve been working on the thing for the last four days, that’s why you didn’t see me.”

“What’s the play about?”

“We’ll here’s the thing.  I was going to base it off of the adventures the kids and I had last year but I kept . . . forgetting . . . what happened.  I would have asked you or the kids but, again, I wanted to be able to do it myself.   I ended up talking with someone who helped me through it though.  Apparently the guy knew me and was willing to help me fill in the blanks.  Odd part was even though what he said was different than how I remember it, it still felt right.”

“Interesting, who was this person?”

“Don’t really know.  Thing was he was really good at writing.  Anyway he helped me out and I completed the thing a day early.  In a few days we cast everyone for the play then I start directing it.”

“That’s amazing Stan.  I’m proud of you!”

“Yea, here the thing though.” Stan continued as he rubbed the back of his neck.  “I promised this guy I would find something for him.  I really want to but the play’s going to take up most of my time.  Maybe . . .”

Ford immediately understood what his brother was about to ask him.

“I understand.  What was it you needed to find for him?  I should have a little time to take a look for it.”

Stan looked up and smiled at his brother, thankful he was so understanding.

“Alright, this is how he described it to me.  It’s a pyramid like statue here in Gravity Falls, about yay-high.  He said it had two branch-like limbs on it with a big eye in the center.  Not really sure beyond that.”

Ford though for a moment.  He couldn’t recall seeing a statue like that before, but then again it had been a while since he charted out most of the forest so things could have changed.

“Alright Stanley, I’ll look for this statue of yours.  Just concentrate on making your play the best it can be.  Deal”

Ford offered his hand out to Stan.  For some reason Stan hesitated before he took it, something just didn’t feel right about shaking on the deal.  He swallowed his doubts and took Ford’s hand in his and shook firmly.

“Deal.”

As Ford stood up Stan gave out a deep yawn.

“If you’re tired Stanley I can go upstairs for a while.  Four days is a long time without a good sleep.”

Stan rubbed his eyes and nodded.  He really was tired now that all of the excitement of working on this had left him.

“Yea, I think I’ll take you up on that offer.  I think I’ll go down for a few hours.”

“Goodnight Stanley.” Ford said as he walked to the door.

“Goodnight Ford.” Stan replied as he laid his head down on the pillow.  Within moments he was out again, dreaming of the future after the play.

 

Ford entered the living room to see Dipper watching TV.  Ford took a moment to realize it was a new episode of Ducktective.

“I thought this show ended after last year?”

Dipper looked up to his Grunkle as he took a drink of the Pitt Cola he was holding.

“Yea, but apparently the fans created such a demanded for more that the creator was forced to make another season of the show.  I hear the guy really didn’t want to but the uproar at the ending basically gave him no choice.”

“Huh, interesting.  Is the new season any good?” Ford asked as he moved over to stand beside Dipper and catch a little more of the show.

“It’s alright I guess.  You can tell that the creator is taking it kinda half heartedly now.”

“I’m sad to hear that, that was a really good show.”

“Yea, I’ll miss seasons one and two.”  Dipper hopped up and turned off the set.  “So Grunkle Ford, what are you up to?”

“Well Dipper, Stanley has asked me to find something in this town.  A weird statue, for a friend of his.”

“That sounds cool, mind if I come along?”

“Aren’t you going to be in Stanley’s play?  I would have figured you of all people would want to.”

Dipper shook his head. “No, that my sisters kind of thing.  I really wasn’t interested.”

“Well, if you’re not going to the play I suppose there’s no harm in letting you come along.  That said, I really don’t have much of an idea where to start.”

Dipper though for a moment then replied excitedly. “Why not use the maps we’ve been making?  We’ve searched most of the forest looking for those big stones so that eliminates a big chunk of area!”

Ford smiled as he agreed with Dipper. “Excellent idea, we can cut our time in half if we can plot out where we’ve already looked.”

“I’ll go get the maps from my room.”

“Right, I’ll clear a space on the kitchen table so we can set up.”

 

Dipper opened the door to the attic and stepped in. He quickly turned to the closet where he had stored the maps, pulling out a set of them from the box he stored them in.

“You’re really not going to do it are you?”

Dipper stopped for a second and turned to see Mabel sprawled out on her bed staring at the ceiling. He hadn’t seen her when he came in. 

“No Mabel, I’m not.  I’ve decided to help out Grunkle Ford with something he’s doing.”

Mabel gave out a big sigh as her response.  Dipper sighed too and put down the maps he was holding and walked over to Mabel’s bed, hopping up to sit with his sister.

“Mabel, I just don’t want to be in a play.  It’s not my thing.”

“I know, I just wanted to do something with you, it feels like we’ve spent so little time together this summer.  Everything just feels.”  Mabel paused for a moment as if searching for the right word. “Different.”

“Hey, don’t say that.  We went exploring when we got here didn’t we?  We also did that thing with Soos just the other day.  I know it feels different but that’s just the way it is.  Everything changes, sometimes the second time around isn’t as fun as the first.”

Mabel turned away from her brother who frowned.

“I know Dipper.  The town’s changing, the world’s changing, we’re changing.”

Dipper’s face went beet red for a moment.

“Yea, sorry about that last year.  I didn’t know that Grunkle Stan was going to give you the talk.  I didn’t mean for you to go through both of them.”

Mabel chuckled; she remembered the time Stan had given her the “talk” when she was in Dipper’s body.

“That’s not what I meant silly!”  Mabel rolled back around to her brother.

“I know what you meant.  You’re right about one thing.  Last year I really wanted to make my own ghost hunting show.  I still kinda do.”

“Then what happened?”

“I guess I grew out of it.  After meeting Grunkle Ford I started to think about things.  What if ghost hunting wasn’t what I really wanted to do? What if there was something else for me?”

Mabel sat up, adjusting herself so she was leaning against the wall.

“So what do you want to do now?”

“Well I still want to get good grades but I’m not really sure for what yet.  Maybe a scientist or something?  I just don’t know yet.  How about you?  Do you still want to be a fashion designer?”

Mabel looked down for a moment as she thought.  She really did still want to be one but her specialty was sweaters and those weren’t necessarily in style as much anymore.  That aside she didn’t really know what else she wanted to be, she never actually gave it much thought.

“I, just don’t know Dipper.  I don’t think about those things.”

Dipper nodded.

“Yea, you do tend to live in the moment.  Not that that’s a bad thing.   How about this, once your done with the play and Grunkle Ford and I find the thing he looking for we’ll hang out for a whole week.  How’s that sound?”

Mabel raised her head and looked at the ceiling again for a moment before looking at her brother with a smile on her face.

“You know what Dipper?  No.”  Dipper raised his eyebrow in confusion at his sister. “If we hang out that’s great, and if we don’t, we don’t.  I’m a big girl, I can be on my own for a little.  Plus I have Candy and,” Mabel paused for a moment. “And Gideon to hang out with.”

Dipper shrugged as she got off the bed and walked over to pick up his maps again.  “Suit yourself Mabel.  If you need me I’m here.”

Mabel’s smile widened. “Same to you.”

Dipper grabbed the maps and walked out the doorway.

 

* * *

  

Stan was still a little stiff as he walked into the theater with Mabel.  Two days of sleep had given him a sore back and stiff shoulders but he needed the rest.  Four days with no almost sleep was a horrible thing to do at his age.  As he approached the counter Toot-Toot was there to greet him.

“Ah Mr. Pines, and this must be Mabel!  I hope your both bringing your A game as we have a lot of work to do today!”

Mabel chuckled at the sight of Toot-Toot.

“You’re the one leading the theater?” She managed to get out.

“Why of course, why wouldn’t I be?  The banjo has always been my passion and theater is no different.”

“Right, that was your passion alright!”  Toot-Toot gave her a confused look before turning to Stan.

“Anyhow, we have auditions beginning in an hour.  For now we need to go over the roles for the play.  I know you already said that this young lady would play the lead female protagonist, did you manage to get the lead male role squared away.”

Stan shrugged as he responded. “Turns out he wasn’t as interested as I had hoped.”

“Ah, these things do happen from time to time.  Whether stage fright or lack of passion for the project we do miss some of our greatest roles at times.”

He motioned for the two to follow him to the theater proper.  As they entered they saw that both Bud and Preston were in their seats near the front.

“Just take a seat near Bud and he will get you squared away on the process of elimination for the roles.”

Stan nodded and walked over to the seat next to Bud.  As Stan sat Bud was deep in the script reading.  Stan waited a moment before poking Bud’s shoulder for attention, snapping him out of his trance.

“Oh, sorry there Stan.  I just couldn’t help but to re-read this again.  You may have run that second string side show of a shack but this script,” A small tear formed in Bud’s eye, “this script is amazing.  I doubted you could do it but I’ll be the big man and say I was wrong.”

Stan was shocked, he expected Bud to try to tear the script to pieces.  Yet here he was acting like it was the best thing ever written.

“Well, thanks?”  Stan didn’t really know how to respond to compliments that well, but he tried.

Bud explained the process of selecting the parts.  Each person would come up and announce which parts they wanted to try out for, then they would read a few select lines from that part.  After they were done the group would write down what they thought and after everyone was done Toot-Toot would compare the notes from everyone and assign the parts.

After giving Stan some tips on what to write down if he felt he liked or didn’t like the person, and what to do if he thought that person would be better for another part they didn’t try out for, it was about time for the first person to arrive.

The first person to arrive was Toby Determined who walked on stage when his name was called.

“My name’s Toby and I’m auditioning for the part of the hero!”

“Oh boy, this is going to be a long day.” Stan whispered under his breath.

 

The next day the parts were posted and the script copies were given out to the individuals.  First practice was set for later that day when the cast would first assemble and do a table read of the script.  As everyone started to slowly assemble Mabel was reading her script looking over what she was going to do.

“Man this is a lot like what happened last year.  Grunkle Stan, did you actually write this about what we did?”

Stan sat at the end of the table looking over his copy. He glanced up at Mabel before returning his gaze to the document in front of him.

“Let’s just say that I based it loosely on what happened.  Some things may or may not have happened for the sake of entertainment.”

Mabel cocked her eyebrow and put her hands on her hips.

“Grunkle Stan what are you hiding?”

Without even looking up Stan quipped. “Look at page 38.”

Mabel quickly flipped her script to the page.  The highlighting showed that she had speaking and acting roles on this page.  As she started to scan the page she stopped on a line.  Her face turned redder than an apple.

“I HAVE TO KISS SOMEONE?!” Mabel shouted at Stan who still didn’t raise his head from the page.

“Yea, that’s why I wanted Dipper to play the lead role since I figured you two could fake it better than anyone else could.”

Mabel in a panic began to flip back to the beginning cast list looking to who the lead role went to.

“Wait, who do I have to kiss?”  She said in a panicked voice.

Just as she reached the page and read the actor’s name that would be playing the role that her brother was supposed to play that actor spoke up behind her.

“Well if this isn’t this just a big happy coincidence.  Mabel Pines and I are going to have a little fake kiss on stage.”  Gideon said as he put his script on the table and climbed up into the chair.

Mabel gave Stan a gaze that would have burned a hole through solid steel.

“YOU MADE GIDEON THE LEAD?!”

Stan tried to hide behind his copy of the script but he already knew it wouldn’t help.   He sighed as he gave up on hiding and looked as his great niece.

“Look, of everyone that tried out Gideon was actually the only one who was good.”

“Aw thank you Stan, you spoil me.”

“Seriously, don’t take that as a compliment.  When I say good, I mean you were the only person I didn’t want to pull all of the hair off my body at, and I have a lot of hair on my body.”

Both Gideon and Mabel gave grossed out looks at Stan.

“Eww” they said in unison.

“Now, you two play nice and get along.  Remember, it’s just a fake kiss.  Actors do them all the time.  Just, make it real enough that it looks good.  I’m not having the two of you spoil this play just because you can’t act nice.”

Mabel wasn’t happy but if she wanted this play to be a success and make her Grunkle happy she knew she was just going to have suck it up.  She sighed and resigned herself as the remainder of the cast sat down.

 

The next day in addition to a second table read the different actors were starting to pair up to rehearse their parts.  Mabel and Gideon were sitting near the set construction equipment going over one of the early parts.

“Don’t do it!  If you fight the demon you’ll be killed!  I can’t think of a worse fate than to lose you again!”

“My dearest, I must!  If this demon isn’t defeated then all is lost, the entire city, no, the entire world will fall to his machinations.”

Mabel giggled at the line.

“I didn’t think Grunkle Stan even knew that word, machinations.”

Gideon giggled and put down his script.

“I didn’t think Stan knew many words beyond money but he’s surprised even little old me.”

The two giggled at the shared thought.  As they do the plywood panel that Mabel is setting on starts to wiggle.  She hopped up to see what is causing it.  As she turns she sees McGucket and Candy trying to lift the panel.

“Candy?”

Candy looks up as McGucket gets a hold of the panel and starts to move it elsewhere.

“Mabel? What are you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing?  Are you in the play?” Mabel asks excitedly.

Candy looks down in embarrassment.

“No, I am too shy to be in the play.  I decided to help make the sets though!”

“Aw, okay.  Hey, maybe after you’re finished we can hang out at the shack and you can help me practice?”

“Awesome, I should be done by five” Candy smiles excitedly.

“May I come too?” Gideon asks, bowing.

Mabel gives it a thought for a second before agreeing. “Okay, but no trying to blow up the shack this time.”

“Scouts honor that it won’t happen.” Gideon says as he puts his hand over his heart.

The two girls giggle as McGucket calls over Candy to help him put up the wall for the set.

“Sorry Mabel, I have to go.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later Candy!”

 

* * *

 

 

As Candy turns and walks over to where McGucket was trying to paint on some lettering Candy tries to explain that he is doing it upside down.  I turn back; ready to start practicing with Gideon again.  A few more lines in he stops and looks at me with a serious look.

“You know, if you really don’t feel like to so much we could always ask Stan to remove the kiss scene.  I’m sure the show will still be good without it.”

“Gideon, where is this coming from?” I ask him.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard Gideon more concerned about someone else’s feeling, well, ever.

“I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable.  I made a promise at the beginning of the summer that I wouldn’t try something like this myself so I don’t want it to happen if you’re not willing.”

I stop and think for a second.  I think he really did change while we were gone.  This Gideon seems, nicer, for lack of a better word.

“It’s alright Gideon.  If we have to fake a kiss we can.  Nothing short of a real demon invasion is going to make me not do this.  Plus it’s just one measly kiss.”

Gideon gave me a confused yet concerned look.

“Mabel you do know we are doing eleven shows over the course of the next week right?”

ELEVEN? I gulped.  What did I get myself into?

 

* * *

  

“Dipper how are you holding up?”  Ford turned to Dipper who was trying to climb over a large root stuck out of the ground. 

“I’m, okay, just gotta, get around this.” Dipper fell as he passed the branch.  He sighed as he got up and brushed himself off.  “I don’t get it Grunkle Ford.  It’s been six days and I think we’ve covered most of the woods already.  Why haven’t we found anything?”

Ford looked up as he thought to himself.  Dipper was right, over the course of the week they had searched almost all of the forest, it was just this last area left and all of the possible locations would have been marked off.  They only had today to find what Stan needed before the show opened and Ford was afraid that he wouldn’t make it in time.  It was nearly evening and they would have to turn back soon.

“I don’t know Dipper, but we have to keep trying.”

As the two reached the clearing they saw something.  Stone, covered in lichen and moss.  A three pronged branch seemed to jut out from the right side.

“Maybe this is it?”  Dipper said as he approached the stone.  He and Ford began clearing the foliage.

“This must be it. Stan said it would be a pyramid like statue with a branch hanging off.  But where is the I?” Ford raised his hand to his chin while thinking. 

Dipper made his way around the statue to get another look at it.  His eyes widened as he stared at the statue.

“Grunkle Ford!  You need to see this!”

As Ford walked around the statue the meaning behind it started to click to him.  Pyramid, branch, I?  Triangle, Arm, eye!”

“This can’t be. . .”

“No way. . .”

As the two of them stared in awe at the statue in front of them the bushes behind began to rustle.  As the two turned around something exited the bushes.

“How can this be?” Ford asked.

“You!” Dipper shouted.

 

TO BE CONCLUDED. . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot the To be continued last time. Oh well. Angry with myself that I'm a day later than I normally am but I nearly wrote myself into a corner on this one.
> 
> As always, comments welcome.
> 
> OPZ OLHYA HSYLHKF ILSVUNZ AV HUVAOLY


	8. Dont Mind the Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally time to for the show. As Stan decides to go on with the show will Ford and Dipper be able to stop William?

“Five minutes Sunshine!” Father called out as he stuck his head in the door briefly.

I adjusted my costume while looking at myself in the mirror.  The costume resembling closely what Dipper wore last year was a little rough on my skin but I’d make do.  Nothing would get in the way of me and the stage tonight!  I reached over and grabbed the cloth on the table and polished my broach again. 

This broach was proof that I was no longer the person I was last year.  I have managed to earn the trust of Mabel and Stanley Pines.  Everything was going all according to my plan! 

“Once everything is in place all of my planning will bear fruit!”  I shout out loud at no one.

“What was that Gideon?”

I turn to see Stanley Pines standing behind me.  He must have snuck in when I wasn’t paying attention.

“How do I look?” I ask as I raise myself up and stand tall as I can, trying to dodge the question.

“Like what would happen if Dipper ate Soos.  Are you about ready, you’re on in a just over a minute.”

“You bet I am.  Now wish me luck.” I respond as I hopped of the chair and made my way towards the door.

“Break a leg kid.  No serious break a leg.”  Stan gave a wicked smile and chuckled as he watched me make my way to the door.

I close the door behind me as I exit to the backstage.  Witty banter, just as I planned.  Soon, very soon, the Pines family all will be my friends!

 

* * *

 

 Mabel yawned as she got out of Tad’s car.  She thanked him and waved goodbye as he drove back down the path.  Tad had been nice enough to give her a ride home from the theater.  As she made her way to the porch Ford was pacing back in forth mumbling to himself.

“Evening Grunkle Ford” Ford stopped and turned to Mabel.

“Good Evening.”  He looked around, searching for something before turning his gaze back to Mabel. “Where’s Stanley?”

“He stayed over a little longer to finish some last minute changes and preparations.  He’ll probably be here in a little bit.”  Mabel responded with another yawn.  “Sorry Grunkle Ford, I’m tired.”

Ford gave a smile as he kneeled down and patted Mabel’s head.

“It’s alright, I’m sure you’ve had a long day.  Why don’t you get some rest?”

Mabel nodded and entered the shack.  As she left Ford started down the path to the shack for a moment before resuming his pacing.

 

As she entered the attic Dipper was mimicking Ford and pacing back and forth in the room mumbling to himself.  Mabel slamming the door shut startled him.

“Ah!  Oh Mabel, I didn’t hear you come in.” Dipper said as he put his hand of his heart to recover.

“You and Ford both.  What’s with you two?  You guys seem like you’ve seen a ghost.”  Mabel replied as she walked over to her closet and got her night clothes out.

Dipper, finally calming down sat on his bed.  As Mabel started to pull off her sweater to get changed Dipper closed his eyes.  Ever since “the change” had started it became custom for them to shy themselves away from each other when changing.  The cramped space of the attic didn’t help so they adapted to the situation by closing their eyes until the other gave the signal.  It worked for now but eventually they were going to have to start sleeping separate rooms.

“Okay Dipper.”  Dipper opened his eyes after his sister had given him the signal to see her in her night shirt moving over to her bed where Waddles was waiting for her.  “What’s got you and Grunkle Ford on edge?”

Dipper took a deep breath before explaining.  He wasn’t sure how his sister was going to take this so he figured he should just come out and say it.

“Mabel, Grunkle Ford and I think Bills back.”  Dipper cringed as he said Bills name.  That was literally the last thing he wanted to happen in Gravity Falls this summer.

Mabel stopped petting Waddles.  Not in a “well I’ll just stop this and do something else” way, she literally stopped moving for a second.  Dipper didn’t speak he just waited for his sister to move again.  What was probably a few seconds felt like hours to Dipper.  Finally she continued her petting when Waddles nuzzled her hand.

“Oh.  So a real demon is invading Gravity Falls again.” Mabel coyly said.

“Well, were not positive yet, this could just something else.  I mean, we only found Bill’s body, or statue, or whatever it was, but from what Grunkle Ford told me someone was looking for it so it could be Bill.” Dipper quickly tried to explain, hoping to keep his sister calm.

As Mabel turned around to face him she had a big smile on her face.  This startled Dipper a little as that wasn’t the reaction he was expecting from her, then again he really wasn’t expecting any reaction to begin with. 

“Well then I guess I have to drop out of the play!”  Mabel enthusiastically stated.

“What what?” Dipper asked confused.

“I said that the only thing that would get me to stop was a real demon invasion.  This is a real demon invasion.”  Mabel smiled and threw out her arms for emphasis.

Dipper was entirely confused at this.  Mabel was happy, not depressingly happy or hesitantly “I guess we gotta do this” happy, but earnestly happy?

“Mabel, what’s going on, this isn’t like you.” Dipper walked over and grabbed the flashlight from the table. “Are you okay?”

He walked over and flashed the light into her eyes checking her pupils.

“Ow, what was that for?” Mabel said as she pushed him away and rubbed her eyes.

“Sorry, just had to check something.  Grunkle Ford taught me this to do when someone is acting odd.”

“I’m not acting odd.” Mabel replied as pushed her brother away from her.

“Oh really?  My sister would never back out of anything once she’s set her mind to it before.  Yet here I am with a person who looks like my sister trying to back out of a play she was so happy about just a week ago.”  Dipper said in a serious yet silly tone.

Mabel’s smile faded and she turned and hopped on her bed. She laid her head on Waddle’s stomach and looked up to the ceiling.

“This is more important.  Bill is a threat to everyone so I should be here for you.  Some play shouldn’t get in the way of that.”  Mabel said almost monotone.

Dipper hopped up on Mabel’s bed and laid beside her.

“You’re lying.”

Mabel groaned.  She knew Dipper was right, this wasn’t the only thing going, the only reason.  She sighed as she realized she wasn’t getting out of this.

“Did Grunkle Stan tell you about what I have to do for the play?”

“No, he hasn’t” Dipper replied as he turned his head to look at his sister.  She was still staring off into space.

“At the final part of the show the lead and I kiss.”

“So what’s the problem?  It’s not like you’ve never kissed someone before.  You kissed Mermando last year and you had, what, 3 boyfriends at school this year?  This should be an easy thing for you.” Dipper said annoyed as he sat up.  Mabel squeezed her eyes shut as she replied.

“Yea, but the person playing the lead is Gideon.”

Dippers brain stopped for a second as he processed that.  Mabel would have to kiss Gideon.  Gideon, who all last year tried to get Mabel to become his queen.  Dipper shivered as she thought of Gideon and Mabel in a passionate kiss on stage.

“Ouch.  I see what you mean.  I wouldn’t want to kiss Gideon either, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a guy.”

“It’s not that.  I mean, Gideon even offered to try to get Grunkle Stan to remove the scene but. . . “ Mabel trailed off.

“But what?”

“But it just didn’t feel right to do that to him.  He worked so hard on this. Plus Gideon’s been really nice this year.”  Mabel continued as she sat up.

“Wait, Mabel do you have feeling for . . . “ Dipper started before Mabel cut him off.

“Ew no!”  Her face twisting in disgust.  “I just don’t want to kiss anyone I don’t like.”

“I get it now.” Dipper nodded in understanding.

“Get what?” Mabel looked at him with a confused look.

“You’re just getting cold feet.  You really want to do the play but because you don’t want to kiss Gideon but at the same time you don’t want to disappoint Grunkle Stan.”

Mabel looked down at her feet.  Dipper was exactly right.  Man, why was her brother so smart, it just wasn’t fair.  If he were more outgoing and normal and less of a dork he would be the perfect guy.  Heck, he would have to beat off girls with a stick.

“Well it’s a pity you said you would have to quit if a demon invaded, cause that what’s happening, I think.  We’re going to need your help stopping Bill again.” Dipper continued.

“Blah, I guess so?” Mabel smiled and shrugged as she happily accepted the out from Dipper.

“Alright, let’s get some sleep.  Bill’s not going to stop himself!”  Dipper smiled and hopped of the bed.  He walked over to the light and turned it off.

 

It was already past 2am when Stan pulled into the shack.  There were a bunch of last minute changes they needed to make to the lighting and set for tomorrow, plus the rewrites they did.  Nothing that would break or change the show too much but it was still needed for ambiance and completeness.  As he got out of the car he noticed Ford sleeping on the couch.

Stan smirked as he approached the porch.  It wasn’t often that he would catch his brother so vulnerable.  Normally Ford could stay up way past Stan, probably something to do with his time away, or even just his demeanor but now here he was asleep on the porch.  So many pranks ran through his mind, what he could do to Ford.  He chuckled quietly as he reached the steps. _This was going to be fun_.

Stan reached his hand out placing it on Ford’s shoulder.  He began to gently shake Ford’s shoulder trying to coax him back to a conscious state.  He may have come up with a million ways to prank him but Stan realized that none of them were worth it.  He loved his brother and this time he wanted to do this right.

“Wake up Ford, you’ll catch a cold if you sleep out here.”

Ford began to stir as his dream left him.  It wasn’t anything special and in a few moment she would forget it entirely but it was still pleasant, whatever it was.

“Stanley?” Ford mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

“Yea, it’s me.  Let’s go inside.” Stan removed his arm from his brother’s shoulder and started to move to the door.

“What time is it?” Ford said as he yawned.

“A little after two in the morning, you should get some rest inside, I haven’t seen you this tired in a while.” Stan replied as he looked at his watch.  He opened the door but as he did Ford’s mind returned to him and the whole reason he fell asleep outside came back.

“Stanley wait!” Ford said in a low voice, yet with a level of urgency. 

“What?  I’ve still got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow so make it quick.”

“Stanley, please sit down with me for a moment.  I need to talk with you about something important.” 

Stan sighed and closed the door.  If Ford called it important he should probably listen.  He walked over and sat next to his brother, leaning out against one of the arm rests as he did.

“Stanley, it’s about your play.  You said you had someone help you create it.  Who was that?”

Stan went pale for a moment.  He dreaded telling anyone about William.  Just the idea of who helped would make people think he was crazy.  Stan thought for a moment on what he might say to get out of this but he quickly realized that with Ford helping him with the other part of the deal he had a right to know.

“Alright, but you’ve got to believe me when I tell you.  This is going to sound really crazy.”

“Very well, I’ll believe you.” Ford nodded.

“So I guess what happened was on the first night I was stuck.  I remembered I made a copy of the journal that Dipper had last year so I figured if I found that it might jog my memory.”

“Well did it?” Ford asked.

“No, not really.  I worked all night on it, but nothing was clicking.  I honestly don’t even remember falling asleep but when I woke everything had changed.  Before I could do anything the pages of the journal flew in the air and one of them just . . . “  Stan trailed off, thinking about his next words.

“Just what Stanley?”

“It just stopped in mid air.  Then this, thing, came out of it.  Told me it knew my problem, that it knew me.  It offered to help me for a price.   At first I turned it down, you know me, I don’t take deals unless I know what they entail.  But then it just said it wanted to find something it left here.  I guess that was the statue.”

“Stanley, what did this thing look like?”  Ford gave a worried look at Stan.

“Well it was a big triangle thing, a bit dapper with a top hat, bowtie, and one big eye in the middle.”

“Bill!” Ford’s face turned from concern to horror at the description.  Stan looked back confused.

“Bill?  You mean that guy you were always talking about?  I thought you guys defeated him last year?”

“We thought we did.  Of course, it all makes sense.  He was defeated when he was in your mind so the only one he can interact with was you!  Stanley did you make a deal with that yellow demon?  Did you shake his hand?”  The worry for his brother was now plastered all over Ford’s face.

“Yellow?  This guys wasn’t yellow at all.  He was all black.  Any part of him that wasn’t black I could see right through.  Plus he called himself William, not Bill.  Buy yea, I shook his hand.”

Ford paused for a moment to process this information.  Name aside something didn’t match up.  Bill shouldn’t be all black and see through.  It was possible what they said earlier today was right but he had to be sure and there was one way to tell.

“Stanley, when you shook his hand did he have blue flames coming out of them?”

Stan thought for a moment.  We was fairly certain there wasn’t.  After all if there had been he probably would have shake someone’s hand until he put out the flame, that’s just dangerous. 

“No, I don’t think he did.”  Stan replied.  “Why, what happened today?”

Ford took a deep breath as he thought about earlier.  He hadn’t been expecting what happened.  Dipper was much calmer about the situation himself, but then again why wouldn’t he be.

“Stan, earlier today we found the statue.  We realized as soon as we found it that it was Bill’s body, still frozen from when he possessed you.  Not long after that. . .” Ford trailed off himself now as he searched for the words. “Not long after two more Dippers showed up.”

Stan gave his brother a confused look.  “Two more Dippers?”

Ford nodded. “Yes.  Dipper explained it to me on the way back but it was hard to take in.  At some point last year Dipper used the copier in your office to make copies of himself.  Most of them dissolved at one point or another but two of them had managed to last this long.”

“Wow, think of the money I could have gotten with wolf teen triplets.” Stan chuckled, trying to absorb the situation himself.  “So what’s the big deal with them?”

“Somehow they sensed another being created by the copier, or at least that’s what they thought.”  Ford continued. “Based on what you’ve told me I think this may be a copy of Bill created by my journal.  If this is true we may have a chance to beat him.”

Stan stood up and started walking to the door.

“Good, so it sounds like you’ve got this under control.” 

Ford gave him a confused look.

“Stan, where are you going?”

“To bed, I’ve still got the play tomorrow and you’ve got some work to do with William.”  Stan reached for the doorknob again.

“What are you talking about?  You have to call off the play!  You need to help us fight Bill!”

Stan stopped for a moment, his hand the doorknob.  He looked down at his hand and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he opened the door.

“No, the play is more important.”

Ford was stunned.  He didn’t have the words to express the mix of confusion, fury, and disappointment he felt right now.  Stan didn’t wait for him to find them.  He entered the shack and closed the door behind him.  After a solid minute of trying to collect himself Ford bolted into the house. 

He looked for Stan in their room then in the office with no luck.  As he thought about where Stan could have gone realized there was one place Stan seemed to be going recently when he was felling aloof.  Ford reached to press the button for the third level but hesitated.  He realized he was returning to the place it all began.

This was his problem, he knew that.  If Ford hadn’t built that portal, if he hadn’t made a deal with Bill in the first place this would have never been a problem.  Why did this still haunt him, why couldn’t it just become the past and stay there?

Ford sighed and pressed the button.  The elevator rumbled to the bottom floor.  Sure enough Stan was there, looking into the portal room from in front of the console.  Ford slowly walked up to his brother from behind, debating what he should say.  Before he had a chance Stan spoke up.

“It’s a contract Ford.  I know you’ve never thought about them before but I have.  I’ve lived on contracts my whole life.  The deal is a deal and until both sides have satisfied their end nothing can happen.”

Ford walked up and stood beside his brother.  Stan continued to stare into the portal room.

“My part of the deal was I would find the statue, which you’ve done.  Once William knows the location my part is done and he can do whatever he wants with it.”

“Then help me stop him!” Ford furled his brow as he stared at his brother.

“Williams part is that he would help me create the best play.  Once the play has finished the run then he’s met his end of the deal.”  Stan continued, unfazed by his brothers comment.  “If one side or the other reneges on their end of the deal then the other gets what they want without the unfaithful getting their thing.”

Ford raised his eyebrow in confusion. 

“What are you saying Stanley?”

Stan finally turned to his brother.  Ford could see there was a certain determination in his eye.

“If I back out of the deal, if I don’t put on the show thus not letting William fulfill his part of the bargain, he’ll get the location of the statue for nothing.  As it stands right now I don’t have to give that up until after the play ends.  This way you at least have a little time to plan this out and stop him!” 

Ford was taken aback.  Stan actually thought all this out!  He was right, if Stan pulled out Bill got his part of the bargain since he actually fulfilled his part.  At least this way there was more time.

“I understand Stan.  I’ll leave it to you, just make sure the play goes on to be the best, it may be the only chance we get.”  Ford said as he turned to look into the portal room.

“I will.” Stan turned to look into the portal room too.  “I don’t want anything like what happened here to ever happen again.” 

After a moment of staring into the past Stan broke the silence.

“Plus I really want to get paid for this!”

Ford groaned as he face-palmed.

 

* * *

  

The next morning came almost as it nothing unusual was going on.  Ford and Stan had breakfast early in the morning, enjoying a cup of coffee and a laugh over the newspaper.  As Dipper and Mabel came down it became Stan’s queue to head to the theater to get the last things ready.  He gave Mabel a quick kiss on the forehead and ruffled Dipper’s hair before quickly taking his leave.  As the younger twins sat down at the table Ford brought them some cereal and milk.

“Alright Dipper, those two should be here soon.  Once I take Mabel to the theater we can start figuring out how we’re going to beat Bill.”  Ford paused for a moment before correcting himself. “William”

“Who’s William?” Dipper asked.

“It seems that this may be a different version of Bill all together.  I’m not sure how that’s possible but he introduced himself to Stan as William.  I’m sure it’s just Bill being coy but we best not take that for granted.” Ford continued as he walked over and grabbed the keys to the cart from the counter, returning to his seat aftewards.  “Anyway, once you’re done eating I’ll take you over.”

Mabel sheepishly lowered he head, as if to hide from Ford’s gaze.  Dipper watched her back away and waited.  After a few moments when she didn’t say anything Dipper decided to.

“Grunkle Ford.  Mabel doesn’t want to. . . “  Mabel shot Dipper a look of momentary panic. 

“She doesn’t want to do what?”  Ford asked sitting down again.

Mabel sighed as he explained.  “I don’t want to be in the play anymore.”

 “Mabel, you have to be in that play!  More rides on this that you think!” Ford jumped up slamming his hand down on the table.

The twins jumped back.  Ford was angry, but they had no idea why.  Mabel furled her brow and hit her own hands down on the table.

“NO!  I won’t be in the play!  There is no way I’m going to kiss Gideon and that’s final!” She shouted.

Ford was confused; he didn’t know anything about a kiss.  For all he knew this was a play about their adventures last year, or at least that’s what Stan had told him.  Even so, this play was now too important to be delayed.

“Kiss or not, you’re doing that play!”  Ford shouted back.

Dipper looked at Ford.  He was confused, why would Ford be pushing this so hard?  It was a silly play, why was he so adamant?  He shook his head.  It didn’t matter, he knew who was right.

“Grunkle Ford calm down.  If Mabel doesn’t want to do the play you shouldn’t make her.” Dipper walked over and stood beside his sister.

Ford paused. They were right of course.  He shouldn’t force Mabel to do something she really didn’t want but they didn’t understand the importance.  He wanted to explain to them what Stan explained to him but he just didn’t know how.  He figured he had to give it a shot, in a way they could understand.

“Listen, I know this isn’t something you want to do but trust me when I say we have to have that play go off without a hitch.  If Stan goes back on his deal with Bill, William, we’ll have to tell William where the statue is sooner.  If the play goes on we have more time.”

Dipper frowned and looked at his sister.  He kind of realized what Ford was trying to say but would Mabel understand, would it change her mind?  Mabel looked like she was deep in thought.  She looked up at Ford then spoke up.

“So what you’re telling me is Bill coming back relies on me kissing Gideon?”  She spoke with a confused look.

“No, how do I explain it.  Stan not putting on the play puts him in a bad position.”  Ford sighed as he responded.  He stared at the ceiling trying to gather his thoughts on how to convince her.

“So if it isn’t Stan’s fault that the play gets delayed or canceled why can he be blamed?”  She replied.

“That’s because if Stan doesn’t put. . . “ He paused as he looked back down at Mabel.  She actually had a point.  If the reason was beyond Stan’s control, if it was simply delayed then that shouldn’t annul the contract.  Ford gave a big smile as he continued.  “Mabel, you might be the smartest 13-year-old I’ve ever met!”

Mabel giggled at the compliment.  Smart or not she really wasn’t feeling this play anymore.  If Ford was convinced she might be able to explain it to Stan too.

“Hey!” Dipper exclaimed.

“Ahem, present company excluded.” Ford corrected. “I’m not sure it will work so we need to be careful.  If Stan says Bill is trying to break off the deal I’ll have to run you over there pronto!”

“Alright” Mabel nodded sheepishly. 

“Great, now we just need those two to get here and we should be able to start planning.” 

At that very moment there was a knock at the back door.  Dipper got up and walked that way to answer it.

“Who is coming over Grunkle Ford?”  Mabel asked as Dipper left the room.

“Mabel, you’re not going to believe it.  Heck, I hardly did.  Turns out there are. . . “

Before he could finish Dipper reentered the kitchen with two other people.  Mabel’s jaw dropped as she looked at the two.  She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.   Over the past year both Mabel and Dipper had seen changes in themselves.  Mabel got taller and had to have a talk about “special” hygiene with her mother. She also had to add a new garment to her wardrobe, plus make some adjustments to her sweaters so they would still fit.

Dipper on the other hand just got a little taller; he actually was a hair taller than her right now.  She thought he might have also gotten his second chest hair but he wouldn’t show her for fear of getting it scrapbooked too, after all she never misses a scrapbookertunity.  But what she was looking at was just the opposite.  In front of her were three Dippers.  Her thirteen year old brother and what looked like two more of him, except they were how he looked last year when he was twelve. 

“Ah yes, there they are.  Dipper, why don’t you introduce them?”

“Mabel, remember last year when Stan threw a party and we had to make copies of the fliers?  Remember how it made my arm come alive?”

Mabel could only nod in amazement.

“Well, I kinda made a few clones of myself to try to get a dance with Wendy.  And by a few I mean ten.  We all had a fight and most of them, well, dissolved but these two apparently survived.”

“Hey Mabel, call me Tracey” The one with the 3 on his hat said.

“I’m Quattro.” Said the one with the 4.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this!?”  Mabel threw up her hands as she shouted.

“Well there was so much going on last summer I kind of forgot.  I wrote it down in my journal and you read it so I figured you knew.” Dipper scratched his head as he replied to his sister.  “Anyway they’re here to help us beat Bill so. . . “

“I have more little brothers!” Mabel shouted as she ran over and gave the clones a hug. 

The two clones looked at Dipper for guidance but all he could give them was a shrug.  As she finished her hug she stepped back and sniffed the air.

“Why do you two smell like an old library?”  She asked as she cocked an eyebrow. 

“Mabel, it’s been over a year since we’ve bathed.”  Quattro replied.

“Yea, if we get wet we would dissolve too.  Baths are a no go for us now!” said Tracy.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know.” Mabel stepped back as she apologized.

“Ahem.” Ford cleared his throat to grab everyone’s attention.  “We may be stalling Bill by having Mabel not go the play but we should still get started soon.”

As the Dippers nodded and moved to take their seats Mabel’s brain’s gears had started to grind.  An idea had popped into her head but she would have to talk to the clones to see if it would work.

 

Stan was checking off the list of last minute changes they had made last night to the set as he was waiting.  McGucket was a miracle worker to have done all this overnight.  He was amazed at how good the set and props looked. 

He looked down at his watch.  Less than an hour until the final dress rehearsal and Mabel still hadn’t shown up.  Ford promised to bring her but he was starting to get worried.  Stan rubbed his scruffy beard as he started to worry. 

Gideon and Candy walked by Stan, looking at the set.

“I say, Candy, you do wondrous things with your talent.” Gideon declared proudly.

“Aw, thanks.  It was more McGucket than me but I’m learning.” Candy replied blushing.

Stan walked up behind the two and spoke up.

“Hey you two, have either of you seen Mabel?  Were an hour away and she needs to get into costume.”

Candy and Gideon turned around to face Stan.  Both shook their heads.

“Sorry Stanley, I haven’t seen Mabel since yesterday’s practice.”

“The same goes for me.  I had to go early but I haven’t seen her since.”

Stan turned and walked to the back.  He was really worried now.  Mabel was the one of the leads and missing.  This didn’t bode well for the play at all.  He turned back briefly to see a worried look on Candy and Gideon’s faces.  Stan felt bad, he really wanted to give this kids a chance to shine too, not that he would ever tell them that.

Just as he reached the door to the lobby the other set flung open and Toot-Toot ran in yelling for Stan.

“Mr. Pines?  Mr. Pines are you in here!  We have a problem!”  He ran down and reached the stage before Stan had a chance to call out to him.

“Up here.”  Stan walked down to the stage as Toot-Toot made his way around the walkways to meet him.  “What happened?”

“Mr. Pines, I just received a call from your brother.  It seems Mabel has come down with. . . “ He stopped for a second to check a piece of paper he was holding. “post-pranadial upper abdominal distentions.  He said she won’t be able to make the play tonight!”

Stan thought to himself.  That sounded so made up.  Ford must be up to something.  He checked his watch again.  There was no time to go to the shack and get her before they would have to start.  He was just going to have to trust Ford on this one.   Problem now was how were they going to do the show?  If they cancel this could upset William.

“Whatever will we do, in all of our haste to prepare the play we forgot to assign an understudy!”  Toot-Toot exclaimed.

“A what?” Stan asked, confused.

“An understudy.  Someone who learns all of a character’s lines and acts as a backup in case they get sick or hurt.”

Stan hadn’t heard of that before but it would have been a good idea.  Sadly it was too late to do anything about that now.  He cringed as he got ready to say what he was about to say.

“I guess there’s no choice, we’ll just have to. . . “ Stan started.

“I can do it.”  Candy spoke up, softly.

The three turned and looked at her.

“But Candy, are you sure about this?” Gideon asked.

“I’ve been helping Mabel and Gideon learn all of their lines since we started.  I’ve got this.”  She nodded as her tone raised more.

Stan looked at Toot-Toot, waiting for confirmation from him if they could do this.  Toot-Toot nodded.

“Alright Candy.  Head into the back and get Mabel’s costume on.  You’re our new lead!”  Stan clasped his hands in excitement.

Candy nodded and turned to head back stage.  Gideon started to follow for a moment but stopped. 

As she rounded the corner just outside the dressing room McGucket was standing outside the door, leaning against the wall.

“You sure you wanna do this?  The whole reason you helped me out was. . . “ McGucket started, speaking completely lucid.

“I know.  I’m tired of hiding it.  I was always afraid of everyone finding out but everyone was going to find out eventually so I want to do this.”  Candy replied as she looked down at her feet. “I know he’s just trying to protect me but I want to protect myself!”

“Welp, I reckon that I’ll support you as much as I can then.” He said as he opened the door.  “Now let’s get that costume fitted on you.  I think you’re a smidge smaller than Mabel was.”

McGucket smiled and pulled out several tools as Candy looked up and nodded at him as she entered.

 

* * *

  

As they approached the clearing where Bill’s statue was Ford looked at his watch. 

“Just a few minutes left before show time.  I hope Stanley can forgive us for this.” Ford said as he moved a branch out of his way.

“I’m sure Grunkle Ford will be fine.  I’ll give him a big hug the next time I see him and he’ll forgive me.” Mabel added as she skipped ahead.

Ford stopped just before the clearing to take a look behind him again.  He had done this several times while they were walking.  He kept feeling like someone was watching him but he never caught anyone when he looked.

As he entered the clearing Dipper and Mabel were waiting by the statue.

“Alright, let’s go over the plan once again.  Dipper, you’re going to make the measurements.  Mabel, you’re going to create a mock up of the statue.  Then I will put it somewhere far away from here.  We can give it to Bill and our part of the bargain will be complete.”

The three nodded at each other and looked at the statue.

“You really think that’s going to work?”

“Of course Dipper. This plan is perfect.” Ford replied.

“Grunkle Ford, I didn’t say anything.”  Dipper looked up at Ford with a worried look.

The three slowly turned around as horror filled their eyes.  Floating just behind them was the exact thing that they were trying to avoid.  William’s white eye, see through except where the pupil floated, his body black as the night.  This was the exact way Stan had described him, far different that the Bill they remembered yet the same.

“Bill!” Ford shouted.

“Hello again Sixer, it’s been years!”  William glowed with black shading as he spoke.  “Shooting Star, Pine Tree, I see your still as hanging on the mortal coil.  Oh this is just wonderful!  Here I thought I’d have to wait for Stan to find my body but he asked you to.  This couldn’t have worked out any better!” 

“Bill, you’ll never get away with this!  We know your plan and we’ll stop you!” 

“You really think so Sixer?  You really have no idea!”  Bill began laughing ecstatically.  A laugh the three knew all too well.

 

As the laugh subsided the narrator began.

“In the town of Gravity Falls the Great DEMON Lord has taken over. “  Toby, who emphasized the word demon narrated. “It’s all up to a young hero to step forward and defeat the DEMON Lord.”

The crowd clapped as the curtain rose revealing Gideon dressed in the in an orange shirt with blue vest, a pine tree cap barely hanging on to his pompadour.  He began shouting into the air.

“Bill Cipher, by my hand, I will defeat you!”  Gideon raised his fist into the air in defiance and began walking to center stage.  As he reached his queue point Durland and Blubs jumped out from stage left and right respectively wearing costumes akin to Hexagon and 8-Ball.

“You think you know the secret to beating our leader?!”  Blubs shouted out.

Gideon smiled as he produced a crude copy of Journal 3 from his vest and held it up.

 

“Of course we do” Ford shouted.

“Oh really?  Ha, you just told me your whole plan, what do you think that’ll do?”  Bill laughed.

Ford smiled as Dipper and Mabel slowly edged away from him.

“Oh, I think it’ll do more than you think.”  Dipper replied as he got into position.

“We know a little secret about you!” Mabel added as she reached her position.

The three of them pulled out NYARF squirt guns out of their bags and started pumping them.

 

Gideon was breathing heavily as Durland and Blubs lay on the ground.  He weakly got to his feet and raised his fist to the heavens again.

“I have beaten you!”  He shouted. 

Nearly “collapsing” he fell to his knees again and pulled out the journal.  “Flipping” to a page he holds up the journal for the audience to see.  It showed a picture of Fiddleford McGucket with big letters saying the “The Builder of the Portal.”

As he wheels around and opens a cage on stage left Fiddleford fall out wearing Ford’s sweater and overcoat.

“Fourth Dimensional Interconnections!”  McGucket shouted out.  “Well if it isn’t my hero!  You’ve saved me from a fate worse than death.  How can I ever repay you?”

Gideon walked downstage and waved his hands in the air for emphasis.  “Good sir, I have come to save you so you can help me defeat the Demon Lord!  You, who knows his true weakness!  Please tell me?”

Fiddleford got up and wandered the stage for a moment looking for something.  He finally gives up and replies.

“Alas, I cannot for all my knowledge was kept in a journal, which is missing.”  He bowed his head in grief.

Gideon holds up the journal for all to see again and hands it to Fiddleford. 

“My journal!  I reckon this’ll be the thing I needed.”

Stan groaned in the audience.  McGucket was improvising his lines again.  He thought they got him over doing that but apparently not.  Once a hillbilly, always a hillbilly.

“Let me see here.”  Fiddleford thumbed through the book.  “Here it is.  Says right here the big weakness of the Demon Lord is. . . “

 

“Water?  You guys think you’re going to beat me with just a little water?”  William laughed. He wiped under his eye.  “Oh, you guys are too funny.  I missed these interactions over the years.”

“We know what you are Bill.  You used the copy of the journal to come back!” Ford shouted as he finished pumping his gun.

“Well, well, well.  I guess you do have me figured out!”  William gave out a big laugh.

Dipper and Mabel leveled their guns again William.  William stopped laughing and took in the three.

“You know, this body may be weak to water but that still means you have, to, hit, me!”  William cackled as he raised his arms. 

The wind picked up all of a sudden and hundreds of pages flew in around William, creating a barrier between the three and him.

“Good luck.  YOU’RE GOING TO NEED IT!”  William’s voice sharpely dropped in tone.

 

“Good luck, you’re gonna need it.”  McGucket yells as he walks off stage left. 

Gideon nods and turns stage right and starts stage walking.  As he does the background rotates to a forest field. 

“I am nearly there.  Once I defeat the Demon Lord’s three generals, of which those two earlier were one, I will have the power to beat the Demon Lord himself!”

As he finishes his statement a booming voice roars over the stage.

“YOU MAY HAVE BEATEN THOSE TWO BUT YOU WONT BEAT ME!”

Manly Dan walks out from stage right dressed like Zanthar.  Be rushes at Gideon, who artfully dodges.

“YOU MAY HAVE BEATEN THE GENERALS OF CUNNING BUT YOU WONT BEAT THE GENERAL OF STRENGTH!”

Manly Dan, again tries to bull rush Gideon, this time narrowly missing him.

“Oh no, whatever will I do.”  Gideon raises his hand to his chin, as if pondering.  “Oh I know, I’ll look in the journal!”

Gideon pulls out the journal and begins to read it as Manly Dan charges him again.

 

“Whoa, you nearly got me that time Shooting Star!”  William laughed as he artfully dodged another of Mabel’s shots. 

The three had been shooting at William for a few minutes now.  He would either dodge their shot, or if he couldn’t the pages would fly in the way, dissolving them but preventing the shot from hitting.

“STOP MOVING SO MUCH!” Mabel shouted as she shot again and again, hitting only pages.

“Mabel, calm down.  Wait for him to present an opening!” Ford tried to calm her as he dodged another beam fired from William’s finger.

“Grunkle Ford, this is getting us nowhere!  We can’t keep up with him on our own!” Dipper called out as he reloaded his tank with the extra water he was carrying in his pack.

Ford sighed.  Dipper was right, they were just wasting ammo at this point.  They needed to move on to stage two of the plan.

“Alright, Stage two.  It’s time to get double vision!”

Dipper nodded and ran to the woods.  William noticed and shot another energy beam at him.  Dipper managed to duck out of the way into the bushes just as the beam would have hit him square in the back.

“Already running away Pine Tree? “  William laughed.  Another page shielded him from behind.  He turned to Ford who had shot at him.

“Your beef’s with me Bill.” Ford aimed down the sight of the water gun and pulled the trigger. 

William ducked away from the shot effortlessly.  He gave a big sigh.

“You know Sixer, you REALLY need to come up with some better lines.” William said as she shot both finger blasts at Ford who barely dodged the shot.

“We’re ready Grunkle Ford!” Dipper shouted. 

Ford smirked in anticipation of this part of the plan.  It was a long shot and it would only work once but it could be enough to turn the table on Bill.

“Now Dipper!”  Ford shouted out.

Dipper ran out of the bushes at William.  His attire changed to that of his outfit last year.  William turned and prepared a shot with his finger when all of sudden Dipper split into three, one going each direction around him.

“What the?”  William hesitated at the sight of three Dippers. 

“Fire!” Dipper shouted as the three Dippers, Mabel, and Ford all shot at William at once.

 

“Got him.”  Gideon, heavy in breath again, stood over the toppled Manly Dan.

Gideon sat for a moment to catch his breath.  The crowd was wooed by the epic fight scene that had just happened before them.  Gideon pitied anyone who hadn’t seen it for whatever reason.  He stood up “recovered” and looked in the journal again.

“Only one more general left then the power to defeat the Demon Lord will be MINE!”

He once again began “walking” to stage right as the scene behind him rotated again, this time to show the town square.

“Dipper!” Candy’s voice called out from off stage.

“My love!”  Gideon responded

Candy, wearing a plaid corduroy shirt with a purple jacket, runs out to greet him.  The two embrace momentarily.

“Whatever are you doing here?  Shouldn’t you have evacuated with the others?”  Gideon questioned.

“My love, I had to be here for you.  I can’t stand to be away from your side in this time of need!” She replied.

“Oh darling, it must to be so.  I still must defeat the last of the generals before I can finally beat the Demon Lord.  We can be together only after that has happened!”

“My love, if you wish to know where the last demon is you just need to ask.  I know where the last general is.  I can take you to him!”  Candy excitedly added.

“Oh my stars.  The heavens have responded and given me the answer I need.  Yes, please take me to this monster!

She motions for Gideon to follow and he followed her.

 

The attack didn’t work.  William just threw up an omni-directional shield until he could figure out the gimmick.  This had managed to reduce the number of papers in the air considerably but while he was nearly out of his “shield” so where they nearly out of ammo.

Dipper took stock of what he had left.  He was nearly empty on his last tank, that wasn’t good.  He glanced over to Quattro who was reloading his last tank.  Tracy was in the same situation.  Their late intervention meant they had a full tank themselves but there wasn’t much else for everyone else.

“I’m nearly out” Dipper shouted to affirm his situation with the others.

“Me too” Mabel replied.

“I’ve got just a few shots left.  We need to make them count.” Ford added with his situation.

The group circled and attacked William and began another set of attacks.  Between dodging his attacks and pumping their weapons to refill them the group was wearing down quick.  Dipper dodged another blast from William, this one grazing him on his vest and burning it.  He quickly threw it on the ground.

He pulled the trigger again as William tuned to Ford and shot a blast at him, this one connecting with Ford’s shoulder causing him to reel in pain and drop his gun.  Dippers shot fell short of reaching William as he realized his ammo was complexly spent now.

“Grunkle Ford!”  Dipper and Mabel shouted in unison as they ran over to him.

As they reached him a quick glance alerted him to the fact that Mabel was now out of ammo too.  William started laughing.

“You guys are so much fun.  BUT THIS ENDS NOW!”  William shouted as he sent an energy wave out in all directions, knocking over everyone and throwing their weapons away into the bushes.

 

As Gideon entered the large “stone” building Candy was right behind him.

“My love, are you sure this is the place?  This seems far too much for a simple general.” Gideon asked.

Before Candy could respond a voice rang out.  A very normal sounding voice, just louder.

“Did you think my general would just take you to prepare yourself to fight me?” 

Gideon looked around for what was making the sound.  As he did Tad Strange dressed as a humanoid Bill Cipher was lowered via wire onto the stage on a giant throne made of small human figurines.  Gideon looks behind him to see Candy now dress like Pyronica.

“You tricked me!” Gideon turned to Candy as she shied away from him.  “Tell me my love, was it all a lie?”

“No, I do love you with all of my heart!”  Candy, nearly in tears replied. “But I cannot betray the Demon Lord, he is just too strong.  There is nothing you can do to beat him.   There is no way you can beat me.”

“Ha!  Without all three generals defeated I am invincible.  You cannot defeat me!” Tad chuckled.

Gideon slowly walked to Candy and grabbed her, turning her to face him.

“No, there is but one way I can take your general.” Gideon said as he pulled Candy in close to him.

 

The group recovered from the blast.  Ford held his shoulder as the burn of the blast pained him.

“Well that was fun but I really should be getting what I came for.”  William gloated as he floated over to his body.  “Finally, this world will also be mine.  I’m going to have so much fun here!”

As Bill laughed he flew down to join his body.  Just before he would enter he impacted a barrier.  The barrier threw him back a few feet. 

“WHAT?!  No, NO, NOOOO!”  William beat his fists on the barrier. 

“What is that?” Mabel asked as the group watched William’s tantrum on the barrier.

“A unicorn barrier.” Dipper whispered.

Quattro and Tracy brought themselves to their feet as they watched from behind William as his attention was focused on breaking this new obstacle before him.

“We don’t have a choice do we?”  Tracey asked the other clone.

“We both knew it was probably going to come to this.”  Quattro replied as he adjusted his vest to reveal several bottles strapped to his chest.

Tracey adjusted his to reveal more of the same. 

“One more time for the homies?”

“Yea, let’s do this.”  Quattro nodded.

The two broke into a run behind William.  As they approached they jumped on him and held on tight.

“What the?  Get off me you stupid copies!”  William shouted.

“Dipper, Mabel, Grunkle Ford.  Take care of the rest for us!”  Quattro cried out.

“Remember us for what we were Dipper!” Tracy added.

Dipper’s eyes grew in horror as he realized what was attached to the clones.  Several water grenades were strapped to their vests.  With just a pull of a string they would go off, dousing anyone near with water.  Ford had made them as a dare when they had a water balloon fight last year but Dipper never expected they would be used like this.

“NOOO DON’T DO IT GUYS!”  Dipper threw out his arm, trying to stop them, knowing he couldn’t.

The two clones closed their eyes and pulled the string they were holding.  Instantly the explosion of water around them engulfed the two and William clouding the view.

 

“No, I’m melting!  I’m melting!”  Tad shouted as the elevator lowered him into the throne.  “How could you have known the only weakness of my final general?! “

Gideon broke the kiss with Candy. He allowed her to stand back up from the passionate kiss as the crowd began to go wild with clapping and cheering. 

“Mark my words!  I will return one day to haunt you all.  This isn’t over!”  Tad finished as he was lowered below eyesight.

As the curtain lowered the narrator began again. 

“And thus the hero had defeated the DEMON Lord.  Peace returned to Gravity Falls and they all lived happily ever after.  Or did they?” 

As Toby finished and the lights came up the crowd stood and continued to cheer.   Gideon and the rest of the cast came out from the wings to give the final bow.  The cast returned to the wings to go back into their respective dressing rooms. 

 

Dipper ran up the two clones and William.  As William’s body begins to dissolve he cried out.

“You win this one Pine Tree but this isn’t the last you see of me, oh no.  I’ll find another way back to help myself out again.” 

As his body finally dissolved Dipper dropped to his knees and took the two clones hands into his.

“I’m sorry guys.  I didn’t want to end this way.”  Dipper lowered his head as tears begin to form in his eyes. 

Mabel and Ford approached him from behind.  Ford holding his shoulder while Mabel was hiding her face in her sweater sleeves.

“Why, why did it have to be you guys?  Why does this happen everytime?” Dipper, now in tears shouted into the void.

After a few moments longer of Dipper lamenting Quattro started to giggle.  Dipper’s gaze shot to him in confusion.

“Huh?”

Tracey joined in on the laughing, followed by Mabel.  Dipper looked at the two clones in turn then to his sister.

“What, what’s going on?”

The two clones sat up as Mabel revealed her face from behind her sweater sleeves.  She continued to laugh as the clones settled down.

“Someone mind explaining what happened?”  Dipper looked around confused.

Ford shrugged, or at least he attempted too.  The pain stopped him from effectively doing so.  Quattro finally calmed down fully and began the explanation.

“Well, Tracey and I figured that a fight against Bill might be problematic, especially if he had all of his power so we decided to use those water bottle grenades if we could set off if we got close to Bill.”

“Well it obviously worked, but why are you guys still alive.  Every other clone I’ve seen even get the least bit wet dissolves completely.”

“Well, that’s actually thanks to Mabel.  She realized that if we were made of paper but couldn’t get wet that she should fix that.”  Tracey added.

“But, how?” Dipper looked at Mabel.

“Well you know.  I used magic!”  Mabel smiled from ear to ear.

Dipper cocked his eyebrow at this sister.  She giggled knowing she was caught.

“Fine.  I figured out if they were made of paper I could just laminate them and they would be fine so I took them to the library and used their card laminator to seal them in.”

Dipper realized that when he was holding the clones hand they DID feel different.  He grabbed both of his clones and hugged them tight.

“Jeez dude, don’t kill us this way.”  Quattro laughed.

As Dipper pulled back his eyes were almost to the point of crying again.

“Don’t ever do that to me again.  I’ve seen myself die too many times already.  I don’t want to see you guys go too.”

“You don’t have to worry about that ever again.”  Tracey reassured him.

Ford walked over to the statue, studying it for a moment before turning back.

“Well, it wasn’t part of the plan but good job anyway.  Nice job on using the unicorn barrier too.”

The clones looked at each other for a moment before turning to Ford.

“Grunkle Ford, we didn’t put that there.”  Tracey commented.

“Yea, we thought you did.” Quattro added.

“Well if it wasn’t you two and it wasn’t us who was it?”  Ford asked as he looked around.

Both Dipper and Mabel shrugged.

 

* * *

 

 As I passed down the hallway to my dressing room again I see Manly Dan getting ready to enter his.  He gives me a pat on the head as he clears a tear from his eye.

“Good show.  You remind me of when I was younger.”

I thank his as I continue on to my room.  Gideon and Mr. Pines are standing just outside his room talking.

“You did a good job tonight Gideon.  I glad you were here.”  Stan said.  As he saw me approach he added, “The two of you made that kiss extremely convincing.  Just keep it up and we’ll have a masterpiece on our hands.”

I can tell I’m blushing as Gideon thanks Mr. Pines. 

“Man, I’m really glad I changed the ending last night.  Something just didn’t feel right with having Bill win this.  I know it was a little corny but it just feels, I don’t know, right.” Gideon nods in agreement with Stan’s comment.  “We’ll I’ve got to go see Toot-Toot about the reviews.  I’ll see you two at the after party won’t it?”

Gideon looks at me and waits for my answer.  I nod and he agrees that we will.  Stan smiles and walks off to the front.

After Stan disappears from sight Gideon looks into my eyes again.  I walk up to him and steal another kiss.

“You were great tonight.”  I say as he blushes.

“Shucks.  I couldn’t have done it without you.”  He pauses for a moment before asking, “Candy are you sure you really wanted this?”

“The play was fine.  I knew my lines well enough.” I reply.

“That’s not what I mean.  I meant us.  I just want to protect you.  If this could hurt your friendship with Mabel I’d just. . . “

I placed a finger over his mouth. 

“I know are protecting Mabel, protecting me, but this is my choice.  I was the one who invited you into our group that night, knowing that we were together.  I know that Mabel might not like the fact that her best friend and worst enemy are dating but that shouldn’t matter.  She’ll find a way to get over it.  She’s Mabel after all.”

Gideon removed my finger from his mouth and held my hand in his.

“Alright, but we should probably keeps this a secret still, at least until Mabel goes home at the end of summer.”

I sighed.

“At least we we’ll still get to kiss a few more times on stage.”

This caused Gideon to blush again.  I leaned in and closed my eyes for one last kiss of the night.  As I opened them again I noticed McGucket in the standing in the hallway looking at us.  He gives me a quick raise of his hat to me and a nod and walked off.

 

* * *

 

 “Oh man, you should have seen it.  There was this big Baby and a bunch lasers.  It was all, pew pew.”

“Soos, are you sure you’re not just making that up?  Did you get into the Smile Dip again?” Melody questioned his story.

“Dude, it was crazy but it was all real!”  Soos exclaimed.

The figure who had been listening in from the hallway turned away from the gift shop doorway, where Soos and Melody had been speaking.  The figure stopped in front of Soos’s office.  Quietly slipped into the room they find it a mess.  It seems no one cleaned up since Stan finished writing his play in there. 

After a few moments gathering the remaining pages of the copy of the journal the figure threw them in the trash can.  A popping sound signified the Pit Cola Stan had left on the desk had been opened as the figure poured the contents into the trash, dissolving the remaining pages.

Taking a moment to look around to make sure no one was watching again the figured pulled a journal from the pouch they wore and placed it on the table, flipping through pages until landing on one showing the copier with instruction on how to remove something.

The figure walked over and started to fiddle with the copier, following the instructions, until a side panel opened.  From that panel the figure pulled a small device and placed it on the table next to the journal.  Flipping to the next page the journal, now encoded, showed a picture of the object that the figure had pulled out.

The figure grunted out in acknowledgment before replacing the journal and the object into their pouch.

“Finally, we have everything.  Time for Phase 2.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long. It ended up being longer than normal due to the choreography of the third act. Any comments or suggestion and whatnot on such is appreciated as that is the first time I've gone back and forth between viewpoints so rapidly I'm personally not sure how well it flowed.
> 
> Any who, the next two should be a bit shorter in nature but I may have to take a quick hiatus on putting the next one out due to some upcoming stuff. No word on how long but probably no longer than an extra week for episode/chapter 9.
> 
> Cipher (This Fence has three rails in it): WTP LT ONA H LYRAL HTIPRATSEAEYAMT?
> 
> So this cool thing happened and someone made some neat fan art for this episode. Check it out below!  
> [Fan art!](https://imgur.com/a/uFsGsMB)


	9. Soos day out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soos finally gets to go on an adventure but he really doesn't feel up to it. There must be a reason why.

“Oh Hey dudes!” I called out to the readers.  “Thanks for reading so far.  The author and I really appreciate what you’ve been doing!  Comments are always welcome if you have any.  We’d love to hear from you!” 

“Dipper told me I had to do the monologue for this one so here I am!” I walk out from behind the counter, looking straight into the camera.  “Sorry about not being in the show more often.  There’s been like, a lot, of stuff going on for me.  You see the thing is Melody is. . . “

Before I can finish Melody’s voice call out to me from the Bedroom.

“Soos, can you come here?   I need your help.”

“Oh sorry dudes.  I’ve got to go.”  I start to walk to the hallway.  “Anyway, enjoy the episode.  I certainly did!”

I take my leave and head to help Melody.

 

* * *

  

“That’s the Mystery Shack difference!”  Soos exclaimed as he handed the customer the change.

The tourist smiled from ear to ear as he accepted his change and took his bobblehead.  He walked to the door holding up the bobblehead and watched as it bounced around.  Stopping for a moment to wave at Soos, who waved back, as he exited the shack.   Soos took a moment to look around the gift shop, making sure all of the tourists had left.  Satisfied he was alone he came out from behind the counter.

Soos walked over to the shirt rack and looked at the new shirts he had picked up.  Mayor Cutebiker had asked for more selection so he picked up two new shirt designs, one was Black Panther and the other the Purple Puma.   As he stood there he noticed Melody walk in and go behind the counter. 

He walked over to the window to watch the last of the tourists getting in their cars.  As they drove away he saw Stan’s car pull into the drive.  Stan seemed deep in thought as he walked to the door.  Out of the corner of his eye Soos could see Stan look at Melody with concern for a moment before turning to him.

“Soos, can I talk with you for a minute?”

Soos turned around and walked over to Stan.  “Sure thing Mr. Pines. What can I do for you?”

“Soos, is there any chance I can borrow your office for a few days?  I need to write something and I’m going to need a place to do it quietly.”

“Oh dude, you got it.  If you need anything from me just ask.  Mi Casa es su Casa!”

Stan cocked an eyebrow. “Okay. . . “

“Dude, it mean’s this place is yours!”

“Oh right, thanks Soos.”

“No problem Mr. Pines. I’d do anything for you.”

“I really don’t know what I would do without you Soos.”

As Stan turned and walked toward the hallway Soos mumbled under his breath.

“I’m just sorry I’m just not as good as you were.” Soos mumbled under his breath.

Stan stopped for a moment, as if he had heard the comment but the entrance of Dipper and Mabel made him continue his exit.

“Hey Soos!” Mabel said as she walked in.

“Oh hey dudes, how’s it hanging!” Soos replied.

“Large and IN charge.” Mabel joked.  Dipper shook his head as his sister’s joke.

“Ho, dude, that’s cool.  So what are you guys up to today?  Got a big mystery planned?”

“Actually Soos we’re wondering if you wanted to hang out today.  We haven’t had a lot of time to do stuff together. We wanna hang out!” Mabel pouted.  Dipper nodded in agreement with his sister.

“Yea Soos, you’ve been cooped up in the Shack since we got here.”

Soos looked over the twins shoulder at Melody.  She just smiled and winked at him.  Soos smiled back as she made her way from behind the counter into the kitchen.

“I don’t know.  I really want to be here with Melody in case. . .” Soos started. As he did Mabel put on her best puppy dog eyes, Soos knew he was weak to them. “But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hang for a little.  Let me just lock up and we’ll do something.”

Both twins smiled at Soos as he smiled back.  He made his way over to the gift shop door, first flipping the sign from Open to Closed and reached for the lock on the door.  Before he could turn it the door flung open knocking him over.  The door quickly closed again as a familiar voice gave a shrill cry.

“Oh jeez, oh man.  I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hit you.”  The voice called out.

The Twins and Soos, now standing back up looked around the room for the source yet saw nothing.  Realizing the confusion the voice called out again.

“Sorry, I forgot I had this on.  Give me, just a, moment!”

The portly shape of a man became visible, his form an image of such distinct places between several scenes on his body before resting on the grey and white clothing of a Time Anomaly Removal Crew’s agent.  The twins immediately recognized the person as Blendin Blenjamin Blandin, a time traveler who they had encountered last year.

“Blendin!” The twins shouted out simultaneously.

“Hey, um, guys.” Blendin stammered out.  He seemed nervous, well more nervous than usual.

“Dude, isn’t that the guy from the laser tag place?”  Soos asked, trying to catch up on what was going on.

“Yea, it is.  What do you want now Blendin, I don’t have a rift for you anymore!”  Mabel added angrily.

“No, you have it all wrong.  I was possesed by Bill at that time!”  He replied defensively.  “Guys you’ve gotta come back with me!”

“Where” Dipper asked.

“Back to the future!” Blendin pulls out his time tape and starts messing with it.

“Wait a minute, what are you doing?” Mabel asked.

“The time machine needs to be adjusted.  Everyone quick, stand around me.”

“No, no, no, Blendin.  Soos’s here, were going to hang out with him.” Mabel said as she backed off.

Blending looked at Soos for a moment before returning to adjusting his tape. 

“Well, bring him along.  This concerns him too.”

“Wait a minute Blendin.  What are you talking about?  What happens to us in the future?”  Dipper asked with a level of concern.

“No, no, no, no, no.  The three of you turn out fine. It’s the baby, something has to be done about the baby.”

A very concerned look came across Soos’s face as he stepped over to Blendin’s side.

“What about a baby?”

“There’s no time.  We have to go!” Blendin cried out as he finished adjusting the tape and pulled it out. “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!”

“What?” Dipper asked confused.  Blendin shook his head.

“Sorry, got caught up in the moment.  Here we go.”  He replied as he released the tape and the four of them vanished into the time stream.

The room was silent with the four gone until moments later when a shout was heard from down the hall.

“SOOS, WHAT’S THE PASSWORD TO THE COMPUTER?”

 

* * *

  

The four felt the rush of the time stream around them.  This was something that Dipper, Mabel, and Blendin had experience in the past.  For Soos on the other hand it was a wild ride.

“WHOOOOA!” He shouted as they materialized.  He quickly noticed that his head was on fire and patted it out.  “Dude that was awesome.  Remind me to do that again someday.”

The group snickered at Soos but as they did their view of the world around them expanded.   The group realized they were on a road in Gravity Falls near the center of town.  The thing was, it wasn’t the Gravity Falls they currently knew.  The atmosphere was bleak and dark, the whole town looked like it had been in a war zone with many of the buildings leveled.

A quick peak to the sky gave them a good indication why.  While there was no rift the Fear-amid was floating in the sky.  Yet it was slightly different that how the remembered it.  The shape was consistent but the color was off.

“What the heck is going on!?” Mabel asked as she turned back to Blendin.

“I, I don’t know.  This isn’t where I was supposed to bring you.  The timeline is messed up.”  He started adjusting his time tape again. 

“Blendin did you take us back in time instead of forward?”  Dipper asked.

Blendin checked his tape, the data showed they were forward in time but he couldn’t tell how far.

“No, this is defiantly the future, well your future that is.  Without Time Baby around all of the wires of space time are crossed.  I’ve got to adjust it.”

“Dude, you might want to hurry, there are some big eyebat things coming our way.” Soos called out with his head still looking at the sky.

The group looked up to see that, indeed, there was a swarm of eyebats flying out from the Fear-amid in their direction.  Blendin in his panic started to fumble the time tape, dropping it at least once.

“Guys, we might want to find cover.” Dipper exclaimed as the bats got closer.

Mabel scanned the surrounding area for something that could hide them.  The group started to run to the nearest building, hoping for cover.  Sadly they was nothing for them to find.  Panicking the group realized the bats would be on them within seconds.

“Hey over here” A quiet voice called out to them from underneath the rubble.

The group turned to see a girl, maybe nine or ten waving them over.  They quickly ran over to find a passage she is using and ducked into it at the last second as the bats pass over them with their lights.  The danger passed for the moment the group breathe a sigh of relief.

“Thanks.  You saved us.” Mabel smiled at the girl.  She backed away from them for a moment before replying.

“You’re welcome.” She said weakly. 

“What is this place.” Dipper asked her as he approached her.  She backed away again.

“Tunnels under the town.  We hide in them.”  Her gaze on the group was deep, as if she was sizing the people who she just saved.  After a moment she made her judgment and beckoned them to follow. “Follow me, everyone is waiting in the tunnel.  This way.”

As the group went further into the tunnel they reached a larger opening where five figures were sitting by a campfire.  All of the figures were robed from head to toe in wraps as to obscure themselves.   As the group entered the room one of the figures shot up.  The figure started to reach out as if to say something but stopped and put their arm down.

“Hey, sorry for intruding.” Dipper said as he waved at the group.

“Yea, thanks for saving us back there!” Mabel added cheerfully.

The five others stayed silent, not a word spoken between them but their stares were enough to put a chill down the twin’s spines.

Blendin wasted no time on conversation and went back to adjusting his time device.  After a solid minute of silence, other than his machinations, he spoke up.

“Finally, I think I’ve got it this time!” He held up the device in the air.  One of the robed figures seemed to focus on the object for a moment.

“Hey  Blendin, can’t we take them with us?  I mean it looks pretty bad here.” Mabel asked.

“Sorry, no can do.  The time device can only transport a limited amount of people and we’re near max already.  If I try to overdo it who know what would happen.”

“It’s okay.  We’ll be fine here, it’s not so bad.” The girl said as she walked over and sat with her companions.  One of them smiled and patted her on the head making her smile.

“Okay, if you’re sure.”  Mabel said with disappointment in her tone.

The four of them gathered around Blendin again as he hit the button one more time.  A flash of light encompassed the four as they disappeared into the time stream again.

 

As the group once again recomposed themselves from the jump they took stock of their surroundings.  This time, more familiar, it seemed they ended up in the museum of the Mystery Shack only this shack was larger than normal.  The group could see that the room had been expanded and several other rooms were adjacent to it where nothing had been before.

“Dudes, where are we?”  Soos asked as he looked around at some of the exhibits.

The twins looked at Blendin who worked between his watch and his time tape.   After a few moments of nervous fidgeting he gave a deep sigh and replied.

“Yes!  We made it.  Were in the year 3012!” he excited shouted.

“What! Were in 3012?”  Dipper, mouth agape, asked.

Blendin nodded and showed Dipper the readout on his watch.  As he did Soos’s attention was elsewhere.   He began to wander the museum, looking at the different attractions.  Many of the ones he recognized somehow preserved for the last thousand years.  Others, well those were things he wouldn’t have even thought up in his wildest dreams, or would he?

Minutes passed as he continued to wander, Dipper and Blendin now out of sight.  He took in each and every one of the attractions, mentally judging them on how real they were versus how made up.  Many of the items, to his surprise were actually real.  The shack had been known for making stuff up but some of this, either it was a better trick than he could imagine or someone who maintained the shack must have dabbled in the weird.

More time passed, more exhibits.  He realized the additions made this a much larger place.  He mentally mapped out where he had walked and realized that he had gone through at least five new rooms, all the size of previous museum.  Finally he reached a doorway that made him stop.  Before him was the last room.  He didn’t know why he knew it was the last room but he knew it was.  The room, simply labeled “Hall of Curators”

His heart began to beat faster as he put his first foot through the doorway.  The room was dark, the lights off.  He felt around the wall for a switch, finally finding one and flipping it.  As his eyes adjusted he saw before him stood a statue of Stanley Pines, the plaque reading “The First Mr. Mystery.”

“Hello Mr. Pines.”  He said quietly as he placed his hand on the statue. 

There was no movement, not that he was expecting any.  Dropping his hand to his side he looked to his right.  There he saw a statue of a middle age man.  Walking up to read the plaque he realized this was the last Mr. Mystery, almost 20 years ago, when the shack was finally shut down.  Nothing was noted why it was shut down, just that it was.  Why they would put the fact that it was shut down on something nobody would see anymore was anyone’s guess.

Soos continued down the line, now realizing it from newest to oldest this way, until he reached the statue of young woman.  Her long dark hair and looks belied a confidence he never had.  He read the plaque and realized this was probably the person who would replace him as the owner of the Mystery Shack.  After reading her accomplishments, and she had quite a few, he turned to see the last spot.

As he stood in front of the last pedestal he realized he should have expected this.  The pedestal was empty.  Neither statue nor plaque stood in front of him.  He gave a deep sigh.  Why should he expect there to be one.

Soos knew deep down he wasn’t up for the job.  He knew that he wasn’t going to make a good Mr. Mystery.  When Stan gave him the job he was ecstatic, yet every day he feels less and less well about his future.  This statue only confirmed what he knew deep down, that he wasn’t a good Mr. Mystery and that he would have to stop living in a fantasy.

“Dude, you always knew that you didn’t have that much time.”  He said to himself.  His eyes closed in pain as he lowered his head.

“Time for what?” Mabel’s voice called out behind him.  It startled him as he hadn’t heard her come in.

“Uh, you know, being a cool dude and all!” He flipped around to face her, trying to hide his true feelings.  Based on her look it wasn’t working.

“Soos, what’s the matter?”  Mabel asked him with concern in her eyes as she walked up to him.

Soos resigned himself.  He couldn’t hide this from Mabel.  Sooner or later it was going to all come out anyway.  He turned again to where his statue was supposed to be and steeled himself.

“Mabel, I love being Mr. Mystery.  Ever since Mr. Pines gave me the job working for the shack so many years ago I’ve always dreamed of being the next Mr. Mystery.”  He began, sorrow filling his voice.

“So what’s stopping you? You’re already an awesome Mr. Mystery.  I don’t think Grunkle Stan could have done half the cool stuff you did!”  She reassured him.

“It’s.”  He paused, trying to find the words. “Sometimes you have to give up your dream for something else.“ 

“What happened Soos?”  She asked him with a worried frown on her face.

“It’s Melody, she’s. . . “

Before he could finish there was a rumble.  The whole room shook for a moment.   A loud panicked yell came from the front room.  The two recognized it as Dipper’s.  The two gave each other a nod and ran back to the front.

 

As Soos and Mabel reached the front room they saw Dipper and Blendin staring out the window in a panic.

“What happened?” Mabel shouted as she reached her brother.

“He’s here!   Mabel this is bad!” Dipper grabbed his sister by the shoulders.

Soos calmly walked up to the window and looked out to see not the forest as one might expect but an amalgam of different scenes.  There were parts of the landscape that looked like they came from prehistoric times, other parts from the far flung future.  He couldn’t make any sense of it, other than the occasional explosion coming from seeming random places.

“Dudes, this is awesome.  It’s like an amusement park out there!”  Soos contemplated for a moment. “Or maybe a movie!”  He turned back to the group.  “Are they shooting something out there?”

“Soos. . . “ Dipper put face in his palm.

“What?” Soos looked at Mabel but she just shrugged.

“Weren’t you paying attention?  Blendin already told everyone this is a big problem!” 

“If I say I didn’t would that mean I’d be in trouble?” Soos asked.

Dipper shot him an angry look

“Sorry bro, I must have wandered off at some point.  Mystery Shack’s wonders and all.” He apologized.

Dipper looked up at Blendin who was again working on time device.  Dipper poked him to grab his attention.

“Would you please re-explain it to them?” Dipper asked Blendin who seemed more worried as the seconds passed by.

“Alright fine, but pay attention this time!  I’ll have to give the short version since we don’t have a lot of time.”  He collected himself and started. “1000 years ago Time Baby was destroyed by Bill Cipher.  Since Time Baby is made of pure time he would take just as long to reconstitute his molecules.  The issue is he is having a time tantrum that he lost to Bill and destroying everything.  If we don’t calm him down he’ll destroy all of time and that includes now!”

“Wow dudes, that sounds heavy.” Soos chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.  “Well good luck on this.”

“You’re not going to help us?” Mabel asked him. 

“I would but I really need to get back to the shack, well our shack. Melody might need me.”  He looked over to Blendin who was again messing with his time tape.  Blendin looked up at Soos with a panicked look on his face.

“I, I, I, I can’t get the tape to work.  Nothing I’m putting in is going through.”

“What?” The three cried out in unison.

“When we arrived so did Time Baby.  So long as he’s having his time tantrum no other time exists out of this one.  We can’t go back, we can’t go forward.  There is no other time than right now.”  He nearly started crying as he explained.

“What are supposed to do then?  Destroy Time Baby again?” Mabel asked.

“If only.  That would mean he would appear 1000 years from now and do it all over again.  We have to find a way to calm him down.”

“But how do you calm down a baby?” Dipper asked.

“I don’t know, I just work for him, I’m not his babysitter!” 

“Mabel, you babysat once what do we do?”  Dipper asked his sister with urgency in his voice.

“I don’t know, I babysat the kid next door.  He’s 8, not an infant!” She threw up her arms, shouting.

The group went quiet for a moment, thinking of what to do.   Soos walked over to a nearby stool and sat down.  He thought for a second himself before mumbling.

“You could always try swaddling him.”  He said, barely a whisper in the wind over the explosions and rumbles from outside.

“What was that?” Blendin asked.

“Yea, that might work.  If you wrap babies up tight that calms them down sometimes.”  Now more confident in his answer he looked up.

“That might work, but where would we find a blanket big enough?” 

Soos thought again for a moment then looked outside.  The shed behind the shack was still there.  It may have been 1000 years but what they needed might still be in there.

“Dudes, it’s a long shot but if the left over material from Mr. Pines’ balloon is still in the shed I could probably make something.”  He pointed out the window at the shed.

Everyone looked to see what he had pointed too.  The shed was only a few feet away, they should be safe to go that far, or so they thought.  No sooner did they open the door to the shack a bellow rang out from the distance.

They broke into a run into the shed, nearly breaking off the door as they entered.  Sure enough the shed had everything Soos remembered it should.  In fact it had exactly what Soos wanted.  The group quickly realized that this was the shed from their time, pulled forward.

It didn’t take long to find everything they needed and the work began.  Sewing, gluing, and, just because Mabel, coloring of the new blanket.   As the four stood back and looked at it they, instead of seeing a bunch of spare balloon parts, saw a lovely giant sized blue blanket with a big hour glass design in the middle.

“Oh boy, I hope this works.  I don’t know how much longer time will be stable.” Blendin said as he once again checked his watch.  “Some parts of time are disappearing as we speak.”

“What parts?” Dipper asked.

“Oh man, there goes World War Two.  That’s not good.” He replied.

“What’s that?” Mabel asked as Soos shrugged.  “Must not have been that important if I don’t remember it.”

Dipper sighed at his sister but after a second he realized he too couldn’t remember anything about whatever that was.  He panicked a little and looked at Blendin for guidance.

“As long as we can calm Time Baby down the timeline should restore itself but we’ve got to act quick or else we might disappear too!”  Blendin assured them. 

 

* * *

 

 Their target was the large ruins of a city they could hear explosions from.  They guess, correctly, that Time Baby was going on a rampage through it.  As the group set up the blanket they went over the plan once again.

“Alright, Mabel and I will take the upper parts up those buildings.  When Blendin lures Time Baby here we’ll jump off and use my magnet gun and Mabel’s grappling hook to wrap the blanket around the baby.  That should calm him down.  Soos. . . “ Dipper trailed off.

Soos was looking worried.  Everyone knew why, he was worried about Melody, he had been the whole time.  For a while he was getting good at hiding it but it was starting to show again. 

“Soos, are you going to be alright?” Dipper directly asked him.  This snapped Soos out of his worry for a moment, long enough to respond.

“What? Oh yea. Dude’s I’ll be fine.  Just gotta get psyched up.” He replied, slapping his cheeks.  “Battle Mode Activated!”

Hearing the rumble and hiss of Time Baby’s rampage nearby the group grabbed their respective gear and got into position.

As Mabel’s grappling hook pulled her up to the top of the building she turned and looked around.  Dipper nodded to her from the next building and Soos watched down the road.  They heard him before they saw him.  Blendin was running at full speed down the road with Time Baby in tow.

“HE SHOOTING AT ME!  WHY DID I AGREE TO THIS PART!” Blendin screamed as he ran waving his hands in air.

Time Baby shot laser after laser after him as he ran, nearly clipping him a few times.  As she watched a small flash grabbed her attention a little ways off the beaten path, just past the bridge.  For a second she thought she saw two kids standing a ways away before another flash and they were gone.  She shook her head to clear her mind and get ready again.

Time Baby finally reached the position and Blendin ducked into a small building. 

“NOW!” Dipper shouted as he jumped off the roof with his part of the blanket. Mabel followed suit with her own battle cry.

“GRAPPLING HOOK!”

Soos grabbed his piece on the ground and ran it under Time Baby.  As the three passed the giant the blanket began to wrap around the child.  Tighter and tighter it went until they felt they could get it no tighter.   Finally Soos folded the last of his part in to complete the swaddle.  Now only Time Baby’s head was visible.

The giant child began to calm down.  The group smiled as the gathered around Soos.  Blendin finally poked his head out from the building he was hiding in.

“Is it over?” He asked as he slowly made his way out into the street.

Soos gave a thumbs up as Blendin made his way over to them.  Nearly to them he walked around Time Baby, using his hand to steady himself between the ruins and the child as he squeezed between them.  Unfortunately for him as he pulled free from his passage so too did the fold that Soos had made.  The blanket, once snug now simply fell to the ground.

“Oops.” Was all Blendin could manage before Time Baby rose up again and disintegrated him with his lasers.

The three screamed and turned away.  Running from what was a perfect plan gone up in smoke.  Using the ruins to cover their escape they barely made it back to the shack.  Huffing and wheezing from the exertion Dipper was the first to speak up.

“No, no, no, this can’t be!” He shouted, slamming his fist against the wall, then promptly shaking out his hand in pain.

“Blendin’s . . . gone . . . “ Mabel trailed off as she leaned up against another wall, sliding down to the floor.

“So what do we do next?” Soos asked as his gaze went between Dipper and Mabel.

Neither twin had a good answer, with Blendin gone they didn’t have any additional insight on how to stop Time Baby, let alone someone to take them back when they did.

“I, I don’t know Soos.  I don’t think there is anything we can do now.”  Dipper replied, as sliding down the wall to the floor.  “We can’t beat him, we can’t go back, were stuck.”

The meaning of what Dipper just said took only a moment to process.  He would never be able to go back, he would never be able to see Melody again.  He shook his head to remove those thoughts, he couldn’t think like that now, Melody needed him!

“NO” He finally shouted out. “We’ve gotta make it back dudes, I can’t be away from Melody too long.”

“I’m sorry Soos, Dipper’s right.  If we don’t have a plan we can’t beat him.”

The room was silent, even the sounds of the explosions no longer rang out.  The three were in a different time, a different place, with no way back and no plan on stopping the enemy.

Soos looked down to his palms and stared at them for a long while.  Deep in thought, which one might see as unusual for the normally happy go lucky man.  Right now he had to be the adult, to think of a way out of this. 

He thought of his childhood, of his youth.  He thought of his life up until this point.  Of the great many things he had done in his life.  He thought, yet always returned back to two thoughts, the first was the role of Mr. Mystery, and the other was of Melody.

Why did these two things have to be opposed?  Why couldn’t he find a way to have both?  For half a year now he had been so worried about the future he failed to look into the present.   He looked up at the kids before him.  These twins never gave up when the going got tough, when the worst became worse.

He resigned himself.  Past and Future be hecked he was going to make the best of the present, no matter what happens.   He looked one more time to the shed, his shed.  His eyes squinted as the thoughts began to pour in.  He knew what he needed to do.

The twins didn’t even notice him leave.  Mabel kept covering her ears every time she heard another explosion or hiss of laser.   Time Baby was getting closer and she knew it.  She was scared.

Dipper on the other hand was already well beyond scared.  He’d faced monsters and demons but there was always a way out.  This time however there wasn’t.  There was no hope, even the new journal knew nothing about this.

After what seemed like an eternity he looked up at his sister.  They needed to be strong for each other.  Even younger he knew he must be strong for her.  Dipper stood and walked over to his sister who looked up at him.  He offered his hand out to her.

Mabel took it, she was ready.  Even if this was the end they were together, they always were.  As she stood up the window filled with red light as the hiss of laser fire just outside the shack.  The twins jumped back startled and ran to the door.

As they exited the saw what they feared.  Time Baby had found them.  His eye’s glowing red with the energy to end their life.  Dipper felt Mabel’s hand grab his and squeezed.  The two knew there was no escape and they were ready.  As the energy coalesced in the giant’s eyes they two closed their eyes, ready for the evitable when a voice rang out.

“Get away from those kids you big baby!”

This snapped their attention to the shed where Soos was standing on the roof covered in different items.  Time Baby turned to him as she jumped up at the baby, dodging laser fire in the process that blew up the shed.

“When a baby is acting out follow these steps.  Step one, give the baby a pacifier!” Soos shouted as he reached just below time baby’s neck.  He pulled out the statue of Stan that had been reconditioned into a makeshift pacifier.  “Sorry Mr. Pines!” He shouted as he shoved the pacifier into Time Baby’s mouth.

The movements of the baby slowed for a second then he spit out the statue, getting angrier in the process.  Soos jumped off to dodge the blow from the baby’s hand.

“Step two, if that doesn’t work jingle some metal objects!” He shouted as he pulled a rope. 

Soon a string of keys from all around the shack started to jingle.  Time Baby reached out for them, movements again slowing.  He reached one of the key sets and pulled it.  The entire string of keys broke off and fell to the ground.  Once again angry again the giant fired a laser at Soos who dodged under the baby.

“Step three, The baby might be hungry, if so give, him, a, bottle!” Soos labored as he picked up a large bottle of what looked like time sand and threw it into Time Baby’s mouth. 

The baby drank the sand and again started to calm down.  As soon as it was finished though it picked up the bottle and threw it at Soos who barely ducked out of the way as the bottle shattered against the ground.

“Step four, if all that fails to work. . . “ Soos jumped up on the giant, grabbing him and pulling him down. “Place the baby on your knee and let it sleep!”

As Time Baby hit the ground with Soos under him a dust cloud kicked up forcing the twins to cover their eyes.  Coughing as they waited for the cloud to clear they listened.  Nothing.  Not a sound came from within the cloud.  Finally the cloud dissipated and they saw the outcome of the struggle.

Time Baby was sound asleep on Soos’ knee.  Soos was gently stroking Time Baby on his back.

“There there big guy, you were just tired.” Soos smiled as the twins looked on in amazement.

“Soos that was awesome!” Mabel shouted.  Soos quickly shushed her.

After a minute he put the baby down on the rubble of the shed, making it into a makeshift crib.  He motioned the two to come inside with him.  The three took chairs and sat down, exhausted from what had happened.

“Soos, that was amazing.” Mabel reiterated more quietly.  Dipper nodded in agreement with his sister.

“Aw, thanks guys.  I wasn’t sure it would work or not but, you know, you gotta try.”  He blushed as he tried to play off the complement.

“Why’d you think that’d work?”  Mabel asked, her head cocked.

“Well, you know, I gotta learn how to be a father sometime.  I’ve been reading all sorts of books on being a dad.”

“Why?  It’s not like you’re going to be a dad anytime soon?” Dipper commented.

Soos gave him a confused look , then looked at Mabel who seemed to concur with her brother, based on her look.

“Dudes, I’m not sure if you know this but I’m going to be a dad soon.”  He chuckled.

Both twins gave a look of shock.

“Yea guys, didn’t you notice, Melody’s pregnant.”

The twins instantly thought back.  They had seen Melody before today.  They had seen her when they got there.  They had seen her when she was stocking shirts, or moving boxes.  They had . . . never seen her from the chest down since they got back.

“But, but, how did we miss that?” Dipper exclaimed.

“MAGIC!” Mabel replied waving her hands in the air and throwing a little glitter for effect.

Soos just laughed.  He had figured everyone knew.

“Yea, sorry about not yelling you.  I’ve just been so worried about being Mr. Mystery and a dad at the same time I got a little lost in myself.  But that ends today.”  He replied, looking out the window at the giant sleeping baby.  “From today on I’m going to be the best dad I can, even if that means giving up on being Mr. Mystery.”

The twins were taken back by this.  Soos was ready to give up his dream job for his child.  The twins didn’t know how to feel about this.  Soos was an amazing Mr. Mystery but they knew he would also be an amazing dad.  They thought on it for a moment.  It was Mabel who spoke up first.

“Why not be both?” She asked.

“Yea, who says you can’t be Mr. Mystery if you have kids!” Dipper added.

Soos didn’t know what to say.  He always dreamed of being Mr. Mystery, and he always dreamed of having a family, but could he really do both?  The only response he could give was a smile.  The kids may be on to something. 

The crunch of wood outside told them that Time Baby was waking up.  The quickly ran outside to see him float up into the air.  They noticed a change on him.  The hour glass on his head which was once red was now blue.  They stood on the defensive, not sure what was going to happen next.

“I am Time Baby, ruler of all time.  Are you the ones who were able to calm my tantrum?”  Time Baby’s voice echoed out.

The three nodded.  That was all they could do at the moment, still unsure of what would happen.

“Very well.  I thank you for that and apologize for what I’ve done.  I can be a bit, cranky, when I’ve first reconstituted myself.  If there is anything I can do for you just tell me.”

“Um, we came here with someone.  Is there any way you can bring him back?”  Mabel asked in a sweet voice giving a sideways smile.

“Very well.” He placed both of his hands on his hourglass as it lit up.

In a bright flash of light Blendin reappeared, still running as he slammed into the wall of the shack.  Falling over backwards and using a lot of time curses he rubbed his nose and recomposed himself.

Time Baby looked around at the landscape and spoke up as Blendin was continuing cursing.

“Now, if you will excuse me.  It seems I have a bit of time to clean up.”  He nodded and flew off before anyone could respond.

After a few more moments Blendin calmed down.

“Is it over?” He asked, looking up to the sky.

“Yea, it’s over.” Dipper replied.

Blendin stood up and checked his watch.  After a few moments he got a satisfied look on his face.

“The timeline is all there again.” He sighed. “I really need to find a different line of work.  This job stresses me out too much.”

Finished he pulled out his time tape and hit the button, returning the group to the past.

As the group vanished in a flash Time Baby looked on.  Mumbling something to himself he passes by a large statue just outside the shack.  On it the plaque reads “The greatest Mr. Mystery” with additional description of the deeds. 

Time Baby looks it over and sees an older portly man, with almost hairless gopher qualities to him, happily smiling with a child sitting upon his shoulder pointing out into the distance with a big smile on her face.

 

* * *

 

As we arrived there was someone waiting for us in the gift shop.  Mr. Pines, well Sherman Mr. Pines looked almost surprised to see us.

“Kids, there you are.  I’ve been looking all over.”  Sherman worryingly addressed his grandkids.

“Grandpa Sherman, you should have been there, there was this big baby and all these lasers.  Pew Pew!” Mabel shot her fingers like guns. “And Soos told us he was going to be a dad soon!”

Sherman looked up at me and smiled.

“Is he now?  Well that’s wonderful news but that doesn’t tell me where you’ve been for two days.”

TWO DAYS?  Oh man, Melody was going to be really angry. I wanted to run to her right away but as if he was reading my mind Sherman looked at me and reassured me.

“It’s alright I guess.  Ford and I have been taking care of Melody since you left.  Stan . . . well Stan’s still locked up in that office doing something.  I don’t think he’s come out since we last saw him in the diner.  Nothing to worry about here, other than you three . . . you four?” Sherman looked up at Blendin and cocked an eyebrow.  “Have we met before?”

“No.  I’m Blendin Blandin, Time Anomaly Removal Crew.”  Blendin offered out his hand to Sherman.  Sherman walked up and took his hand, pulling Blendin in close for a hug.

“Pleasure to meet you, really it is.” He patted Blendin’s back as they hugged.

I took my leave to go see Melody as they continued.  Once out of earshot I decided to finish this.

“Sigh, there you have it dudes.  That was my big adventure for this half of the season.  Again, sorry I couldn’t be around more but I want to make sure I’m here for Melody.”  I continued walking down the hall to the bedroom.  “I hope to do a little more in the second half when all the stuff starts going down but that really depends on Melody.  You know, I’m a dad first and an actor second.”

“Anyway, hope you had a good time and I’ll see you when I see you.”  I wave goodbye as the screen fades to black.

 

* * *

  

The car’s headlights shut off as the figure cut the engine.  Night had fallen over Gravity Falls and even though the drive was lit by lamps it wasn’t enough to illuminate the figure full.  The person got out of the car and walked to the large double doors of the building in front of him.  Two letters, one each engrained on each door, stood before him.  The figure knocks on the heavy doors.

After a few moments the doors open to reveal more light within.  The figure who answered, a man wearing a dew rag, a lab coat, and goggles stands in the doorway waiting.  They mysterious person pulled two objects from the bag they are wearing.  They hand the items to the man with the dew rag.  The man looks over the objects, the first the item pulled from the junk yard, the second a time tape. 

After a few moments sizing the items up the masked man finally speaks up.

“Finally, one more item and we’ll be on phase two.  Thank you.”

The other person waits for them to nod and return back into the building before returning to their vehicle.  Once entering they look at themselves in the rearview mirror before starting the engine.

“I hope they’ll understand when it’s time.”

They start the engine and drive off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well were back after taking a week off. Originally intended this one to be a little shorter it just kinda ended up being. . . well. . . longer. Whatever, as long as you like the content I'm cool with it.
> 
> If you are wondering what I mean by first half, I intend to split this initial part (the continuation part of the AU) into two major parts or arcs. each one is going to be 12 episodes (chapters) long. So were on 9 that means we have 3 left before a bit of break to let me write the latter half. Were all GF fans so it's not like a hiatus is something that we aren't used to.
> 
> Cipher for the week (I and J are combined): 334344 13433322 13511244 215112432451 111313 4234 2451155111135141


	10. Getting a Weird Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old enemy returns to Gravity Falls in pursuit of what he left unfinished. Meanwhile Ford has a existential crisis as he gets a job offer that is too good to refuse.

The director flipped through the dossier I had left on her desk, her eyes studying each page in great detail.  I stood there waiting for her to finish.  Page after page of my report containing pictures, charts, and different accounts of the details and she took them all in..  Finally finished she closed the file, our agencies symbol in the center with the title “Gravity Falls Investigation” in bold on the cover.  She placed the file to one side, revealing a dossier of potential new recruits to the science division below it.

“Agent Powers, I understand you still feel there is more to this but I have to disagree.  You spent much of the summer last year investigating that town and yet you came back with nothing.  An investigation of that scale cost us an immense amount of resources and all we got from it was embarrassed.  Why do you think that it still warrants another?”

“Ahem” I cleared my throat. “Based on the interactions with my colleagues over the last few months some things haven’t added up.”

“Oh really?”  The director gave me a stern look as she cocked her eyebrow.  “And what would that be?”

“Ma’am, none of the data matches what I remember.  In addition many of my colleagues claim to have no memory of events that I clearly remember.  Even my own partner, Agent Trigger doensn’t . . . “

“Enough with this Powers.” She held up her hand as she cut me off.  “This agency cannot afford to waste any more resources on frivolous investigation when nothing has come up.  From this moment on I consider the Gravity Falls case closed.”

“But Director!  I’m sure of it, there is something weird going on out there.  If you could just give me one more chance to. . . “

She slammed her hand down hard on the dossier as she stood.  “POWERS!”  I held fast.  I knew I was right.  As we glared into each other’s eyes she finally sighed and sat back down.  She rubbed her eyes as I made one last attempt.

“Please Director.  Just give me one more chance.  I’m sure I can find something out there if you just give me one more chance.”

“Powers, you’re my best agent, by far.  Nobody gets it like you do when it comes to weird.  Heck that’s why we brought you on the first place, but this. . . “

The Director spun her chair to the window.  She parted the blinds, letting in a little light and allowing her to see outside.

“Agent Powers, when was the last time you took a vacation?”

“Excuse me?”

“Just answer the question.”

I thought to myself.  It had been a few years if I recall.  My investigations took up most of my time so I did have some time accumulated.

“Not for a while, Ma’am.”

“I see.  Maybe it’s time you took a break.”  She let go of the blinds and turned back around.  “As your Director I feel your mental health may be affected by your job and I am ordering you to take a vacation, effective immediately.”

“But Director. . . “

She held up her hand and cut me off again.  “I think some fresh air will do you some good.  Maybe you should go visit a backwater logging town or something on your vacation.  I hear those do wonders for the mind.”

I took second to process what she meant.  “How long should I take?”  She looked at her computer for a moment before looking straight at me.

“Take as long as you need until you feel you are well rested and able to put this Gravity Falls situation behind you.”

I stood at attention and saluted her. “Yes Ma’am.”

As I returned to my desk to pack a few of my things Trigger was waiting for me along with a few other agents. 

“How did it go?”

“I was told to go take a vacation, starting right now.”

Trigger nodded. “I see.  Where are you going?”  He asked as several of the other agents looked at me with the same inquisitive eye.

“Gentlemen, I’m going to Gravity Falls.”

 

* * *

 

“Alright, I’ve added it up.  I just need the amount you’re going to get from the play and we can begin.”  Ford said as he punched in the data into the desktop.

Stan and Ford were in the office going over their current finances as of now today.  They agreed to pool what they had left to make a budget for the summer and beyond to the best of their ability.  Ford had hoped that it would knock some sense into them about getting jobs.   

Well that was at least the cover he had but considering that Stan was, for the moment, gainfully employed and he wasn’t it was now more to knock some sense into him to get a job.  He had gone through several applications but never completed them as he kept feeling like he was above them.  It was a harsh problem that he needed a wake-up call for.

“Here you go.”  Stan replied as he handed Ford a piece of paper with a bunch of numbers scrawled on it.  Ford looked over the numbers for a moment then tried to hand the sheet back to Stan.

“Not funny Stanley.   I need the real amount you’re making from this, not some scam numbers.”

Stan gave him brother a look and shook his head.

“Those are the numbers.  I had Toot-toot give me the estimate yesterday.  He says based on average ticket sales that’s what I stand to make.  Maybe a little more if every show keeps selling out but he said don’t count it.”

Ford still couldn’t believe it.  This was really a large sum of money.  He resigned himself that if Stan was going to lie he would have probably gone more grandiose and punched in the numbers into the spread sheet.

A few minutes later, and some number fudging here and there, he was able to get their budget.

“Alright, this isn’t too bad.”  Stan pulled up a chair next to him. “It looks like if everything works out with your play we would be able to sustain ourselves for a couple of months, even if we were to move out of the shack.”

“That’s great news!” Stan gave Ford a light punch of the shoulder. “See, what did I tell you, we put our heads together we can do anything!”

“Right, anything.” Ford replied, his voice drooping.

“Anyway, I’ve got to head in now.” Stan continued, oblivious to Ford’s change in tone.  “Today’s showing is the early one and Dipper and Mabel are coming to see it for the first time.   Are you sure you don’t want to see it too?”

Ford shook his head.  “No Stanley, I think I’ll pass today.  I still need to run a few numbers and check up on my machines.”  He looked up to see the disappointment on his brother’s face. “You know, nerd stuff.”

Stan cracked a smile and chuckled.  “Alright poindexter.  If you ever change your mind you just have to tell me.  I’ll see you tonight!” 

With that Stan left to grab the twins and go to his job.  Ford sat for a few minutes more before saving the file and leaving himself.

 

Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Thompson, and Lee exited the theater as Wendy and Mabel laughed.

“Aw man I am so happy I didn’t have to be in that.” Mabel could barely contain herself as she exited.

“I know right?  You would have been so grossed out kissing Gideon.”  Wendy added grabbing her shoulder and laughing with her.

The three boys just stare at the girls as they lose themselves.

“Huh, I don’t know what’s so funny.”  Lee comments to the group.

“Yea, it was corny but did we really expect anything different from Grunkle Stan?” Dipper asked.

The two looked at Thompson who seemed deep in thought.

“I think it was a masterpiece of a contemporary love story set to the back drop of apocalyptic dystopia.  The fact that the hero must overcome multiple trials set before finally realizing he already had the power to defeat what was his greatest enemy, himself.  Nothing is greater than the power of love and the ability to be oneself on the stage that is life.”  Thompson postulated.

The whole group stopped whatever they were doing and stared at him for a moment.  Lee broke the silence.

“Thompson, I dare you to climb that light pole.”

“I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR YOU GUYS!”  He shouted as he ran over to the pole, taking of his shirt to use as leverage to climb.

After waiting a moment and watching him fail a couple of times Lee spoke up again.

“Man, I just wish Nate, Robbie, and Tambry could have seen it.”  He said as he kicked a rock on the ground.

“That reminds me, where are they?” Dipper asked.

“Well Nate ended up moving away last year to Minnesota. I think Robbie and Tambry are in Flordia visiting Robbie’s grandparents.”

“Aww, I bet the two of them would have loved the play.  Are they still all lovey dovey?” Mabel asked, hugging herself.

“Uh, don’t get me started.  It just got worse when you guys were gone.  We literally cannot separate those two and they. . . “ Wendy trailed off and looked away.  “I don’t know, they just aren’t as fun to be around.”

“Aww you jealous” Lee said, poking fun at Wendy. 

“No way!” She punched him in the shoulder hard. 

“OWW” he rubbed his shoulder.  Wendy just shook her head.

As the group got another good laugh the rest of the crowd starts to file out.  One of the people coming out caught Mabel’s eye.  She abruptly stopped laughing and Dipper noticed.

“Mabel?”

She cocked her head to the side trying to focus on one person.  Her eyes open wide as she recognized him.  She grabed Dipper and turned him to see who she sees.

“Dipper look!” She quietly shouted to him as she points to a person in the crowd.

“What, who is it?”  He asked as he tried to make out who she is pointing too.

“Isn’t that the government guy from last year?” 

Dipper finally made out the figure she is pointing too.  It indeed looked like the government agent they briefly met last year, the one who nearly found the secret to the portal room just when Grunkle Ford got back.  The two quickly ducked behind a trash can to hide.

“Dudes, what’s got you spooked?  It’s like you’ve seen a ghost.” Wendy asked as she leaned over to the twins.

“Shh.” Mabel shushed her and pointed.

“Who’s that, your uncle or something?”  Lee asked.

“Guys, quiet.” Dipper quipped.

“What are you guys looking at?!” Thompson shouted as he rejoined the group.

The figure turned to their direction, having heard Thompson.  The twins quickly ducked behind the trash can so as to not be seen.  The figure, only having seen three teens standing around a trash can turned and walked away.

Sure the coast was clear the twins looked up at the figure walking down the side walk.

“I’m sure of it, that was him.” Dipper said, scowling at the man.

“Should we follow him?”  Mabel asked.

“Yea, I have a bad feeling about this.”  Dipper nodded. 

Wendy shrugged to Lee and Thompson and followed the twins as they started to shadow the mysterious man.

 

Stan yawned as he waited for Ford.  They had agreed to meet after the play for dinner at the fancier restaurant, courteous of Toot-toot who told him to go out somewhere nice and enjoy himself and oh boy did he need this.

Today’s show looked like a hack job.  Manly Dan started forgetting his lines after he found out Wendy was going to be in the audience.  Several of the set pieces didn’t work the way they were supposed to which meant Tad had to duck down to look like he melted, he was a pro about it though so he was sure nobody noticed.  Finally Gideon and Candy held the kiss _WAY_ too long.  Believable it was but this is a kid’s show.  He was going to have to talk about this with them.

He took another drink of . . . well he wasn’t really sure what this was but it was good, as Ford finally showed up.

“Sorry I’m late Stanley.  I got a call from the post office about a letter they received and couldn’t find my address on file so I had to go pick it up.”  Ford apologized as he took his seat.

Stan thought about it for a moment.  Ford’s address should still be the shack after all.  It was him who was considered dead.  It took him a moment to realize that Soos may have changed the address when he moved it.  Stan just shrugged, he realized it didn’t really matter and he didn’t really care anyway.

“So what letter.  What did it say?” He asked as he took another sip.

The waiter came by and took Fords drink order.  Ford order a glass of what Stan was drinking.  The waiter looked at Stan who held up his glass and asked for another and the waiter nodded and walked away.

“I don’t know.  I haven’t opened it yet.”  He pulled out the letter and looked at the address.  It was indeed addressed to him but there was no return address.  “That’s odd.  No return address.  Stan, did you send this?”

Stan shook his head.  “I may pull a prank on you but a letter is just too much work.  This one isn’t me, I swear.”  He set down his glass and took the letter from Ford.

“Weird.  Well I suppose I can open it later.”  Ford took the napkin and set it on his lap, then opened the menu.  “So, what is the occasion tonight?  I thought we were conserving money.  ThIs place seems . . . a little fancy.”

Stan chuckled. “It’s okay Ford.  The theater is covering this one.  They wanted to give me a bit of an award so to speak.” 

The waiter came back with two glasses of the drink and then took their orders.  After he left Stan picked up his glass and held it out.

“To new beginnings.”  He said, offering his glass for a toast.

Ford took his glass, repeating what his brother said and they clinked glasses.

Most of the night was spent talking about the play and the labors of running it.  Ford was happy that his brother was doing so well but something kept nagging him.  Finally after the meal was done but before dessert Ford tried to change the subject.

“Stanley, I suppose this as good of a time as any.  Would you mind handing me that letter.”

Stan shrugged and passed the letter back.  Ford opened it and pulled out the contents, single page letter before him, and began to read.  Minutes passed in silence between the two as Ford read, and reread the letter.  Finally putting it down and staring blankly into space.

“So what does it say?” Stan finally asked.

All Ford could do was hand him the letter.  Stan read it but to be honest it didn’t make much sense.  It was something about a research lab wanting to hire him to do some nerdy stuff for them.  Finally giving up on figuring out what it was on his own he asked.

“I don’t get it.”

“Stanley, that lab . . .” He paused, trying to find the right words. “That lab is, was, the most critical lab in the country.  The stuff they do there makes miracles seems trite by nature.”

“And they want you to work for them?”  Stan, still confused, asked.

“Yes, they want me to work there on Quantum Reality. . . “ He stopped when he realized, based on his brother’s face, that he wasn’t going to understand the full explanation. “They want me to perfect my portal technology.

“That’s amazing!  I knew you would become a super famous scientist again!”  Stan threw out his arms, nearly knocking over several empty glasses, in joy.

Ford just sat there, contemplating.

“Stanley, no one who goes there becomes super famous.  That lab is ultra secret.  The things that happen there may amaze people but for their safety they are also the most closely guarded people on the planet.” 

Ford’s gaze dropped.   Stan seemed to calm down, thoughts going through his head.

“So that means . . . “ He started.

“That means if I take that job we would probably never see each other again.  Or even if we did it would be under extremely controlled circumstances. “

Both men didn’t say a word for a while, even when the waiter came to ask if they wanted dessert they just looked down not saying a word.  Stan finally broke the silence.

“Are you . . . Are you going to take the job?”  He asked quietly.

“I don’t know.  I’ve been chomping at the bit to get out there again, to use my brain for something.  I love living here in Gravity Falls with you, with the kids, but I feel there is still more for me out there.  If I had to give you an answer right now . . . “ he paused looking up at his brother. “It would probably be yes.”  He looked down again, his mind full of conflicting thoughts. “I don’t know.  I need to think on it.  This isn’t the opportunity that you can just pass up or take immediately.”

Stan placed his hand on his brothers.

“Whatever you decide, I’m behind you 100%”

 

* * *

 

The twins just watched as Agent Powers walked the halls of the Mall.  They, along with Lee, Wendy, and Thompson, had followed him when he left the theater.  While the group had done their best to conceal themselves they quickly realized that it might not matter.  Powers was wandering, almost aimlessly, around the mall with no sign of stopping. 

As he stopped in another store Mabel sat a moment to catch her breath.

“Man, is this guy ever going to stop?  I think he’s walked the mall more times than Grandpa Sherman did during his marathon!” She said, taking off her shoes for a moment to stretch her toes.

“Yea, I think you’re right.”  Dipper sat beside his sister. 

Wendy took the last spot next to dipper while Thompson and Lee stood beside her.

“Aw man, how long is this going to go on, I’m getting hungry.”  Thompson mentioned as he leaned against the wall.  The sound of his stomach rumbling caused the group to giggle.

“Dude, why do you and Lee go get us some snacks from the food court or something?”

Lee gave it a second thought and nodded at Wendy.

“Alright, let’s do it.  Thompson you’re paying.“  Lee smacked Thomson in the stomach with the back of his hand as he turned in the direct of the court.

“Aww, I paid for the last one.  Why can’t you get this one?!” Thompson replied as he rubbed his belly and turned to follow Lee.

“BRING ME BACK A PRETZEL!” Mabel yelled as she jumped up and waved her hands to make sure they heard her.  Lee turned back and gave her a thumbs up and a grin as he walked.

Mabel sat down again, allowing herself to slide back on the wall behind the bench until he was basically laying on it.

“Why are we following this guy again?!” She groaned as she covered eyes with her hands.

Dipper sighed.  He glanced over to the shop and saw Power still standing in it.  He was looking for something that much they could tell but what? 

The portal was gone, their research should have been destroyed when Ford collected it, and their memories of the whole thing should have been erased by the memory gun.  So why on earth was Agent Powers back in Gravity Falls.

A few more minutes passed before Powers came out of the store.  He slowly made his way to the walkway between the upper levels.  Stopping in the middle he looked down to the people below.  Dipper watched, still behind him, as he stood there for a moment. 

Suddenly Powers reached out and grasped his head.  Dipper could barely make it out but he thought he heard Powers says something.  This lasted but for a moment then Powers recovered and walked on.  Dipper nudged his sister who jumped up, looking for a fight.

“Mabel calm down.  He just came out of the store.”

“Oh.”  She quickly scanned the crowd before Dipper pointed him out.  She got up and stretched her legs again, ready for another long walk.  “Well what are you guys waiting for?  Let’s follow him!”

Wendy and Dipper sighed.  Wendy flipped out her phone and started texting Lee about where they were going.  The twins were already ahead of her and on their way.

 

Ford arrived back at the shack a half an hour later.  The dinner had been nice, and the dessert excellent, but he now had a lot of food for thought.  This job may have been exactly what he wanted, what he had been pining to do since he got back.  There was so much potential working for this lab, potential he could exploit!

As he got into the family room Abuela was sitting in the recliner watching some Spanish soap opera on the TV.  She glanced up at him and said a few words in Spanish which Ford could only guess was a greeting.  Ford nodded back at here and continued past into the gift shop.  

Being evening Melody was starting to count up the cash received for the day.  Ford recalled a chat he had with her a few days ago about the income they made here.  Apparently since they took over profits have gone up quite a bit.  Nothing he could have run a full science lab off of but enough to support a family, which was good since she was due soon by his estimation.

Melody looked up as she placed the bag of receipts under the register.  Ford smiled back and waved.  Without a word spoken she turned her attention back to the task at hand, freeing Ford from any obligation of sociality, a blessing in disguise in his current state.

Turning his attention to the vending machine he quickly entered the code to open the secret door.  With a thud the mechanism released and the machine swung open.  Stepping in he turned back to look and see if anyone was following him.  He wasn’t quite sure why he did that every time he did this, the only possibility could have been picking up the mannerism from Stan who, even after no longer needing to hide what was down here, still checked over his shoulder.

Hitting the button to open the elevator Ford waited.  Not long mind you since it was just on the floor below them.  He defaulted it to that floor so that someone who had the wrong code couldn’t just break in, though he removed the code machine not long after for ease of access to him and his brother.  When the door opened he stepped in.   His finger hovered over the second floor button.  He didn’t press it, he didn’t know why he didn’t press it, he just didn’t.  

A minute passed with Ford completely still.  His mind was going far faster than he could process and he was stuck.  His mind finally clearing he hit the button.  The door shut and the elevator lurched into action.  He felt the feel of the decent; he heard the rumble of the motors.  He glanced at his hand, finger still pressing the floor button.  He realized it then, he had hit the third floor button.

As the elevator passed his floor he could hear the claxons of his tracking machine going off.  He mind clearing from the letter long enough to note he would have to look into the calibration again.  The last few days it had been picking up spikes but he felt that it was still having issues due to the weirdness barrier’s minor damage from a few weeks ago.

The elevator finally reached the bottom floor.  The doors sung open and he stepped out.  This must be another mannerism he picked up from Stan.  He chuckled lightly to himself as he thought about how much they really were twins.  Walking into the lab he stepped up to the same place they always did, the control panel.

The lights on the panel were dim, nothing worked on it anymore anyway since he dismantled the portal.  There was nothing left to do but take this lab apart eventually.  He didn’t need it; that was for sure.  Ford took a moment to stare out at his old invention, the source of their problems and their solution.

Finally getting up the courage to reenter the room where he lost it all he pressed the door open.  No sooner did he step through the doorway did his mind begin to turn into overtime.  Calculation that he once started but never finished began to flow into him, finally solving themselves.  The issues he had with the first portal he now was starting to rethink.

Ford had to sit to stop himself from falling over.  Luckily a small pile of equipment was next to him and he steadied himself with his hand before taking a seat.  His mind was working too hard, too fast for him.  This was something that had never happened before.  He had several times where he pushed himself to the limits but never like this.

Four, five, six minutes passed with his mind running the numbers.  Finally after ten minutes all was silent and all he could hear was the gentle hum of the lights.  He felt so alone for a moment, no one around, no sound of importance.  It was then he realized it.  The solution he needed oh so many years ago.  He knew how to make the portal stable and how to avoid Bill’s dimension.

He looked at the letter again.  He knew he couldn’t do this on his own.  There was no way he could secure the funding for it and what they were making was just enough to make ends meet.  This lab had the resources he needed.  He could get back out there.  He could explore the multiverse again!

The excitement of getting back out there caused him to jump up.  He began to pace around the room, thinking.  He could create an entire unit of explorers to find the deepest mysteries of the multiverse.  He could find new life, new worlds, and new cultures! 

He looked up at where the portal had been. 

“I could see all of them again.”

The possibilities were running through his brain like wildfire.  He stepped forward, toward the portal, when he heard it.  To him it was faint.  A crack, barely able to be discerned from the wild thoughts running through his brain, but it was enough to snap him back to reality.

Looking for the source of the sound led him to his shoes.  Raising his right foot he noticed a small picture frame underneath his boot.  He reached down to pick it up, careful of the glass shards.  Turning it over he saw something that grounding him more than anything else could have.  It was a picture of his niece and nephew.

As he stared at it his mind, once flowing with ideas and inventions, was again silent.  This time however, it was not a lonely silence.  He felt the warmth that he felt being with them.  If he took this job, if he pursued this dream, he would have to give them up.

Ford could do nothing but start at the picture, not a sound coming from him.  He would stay there for a while, one hand holding the picture, the other the letter.

 

* * *

 

Wendy cut the engine on her truck.  She had already cut the lights over a mile away.  Thankfully there was just enough light out for her to follow Powers’ SUV without being noticed. 

“Really guys?  Why is he here?”  She asked the rest of her passengers. 

Lee and Thompson just shrugged from the back of the truck.  Dipper and Mabel both gave confused looks at each other, occasionally glancing at the place they had just pulled up to.

“Why would he go to Northwest Manor?  None of this makes any sense.” Dipper sighed. “First he was at the theater, then the mall . . .”

“Then the swap meet, and don’t forget the festival grounds!” Mabel interrupted her brother. “Think he’s just touring the town?”

This time everyone shrugged.  They watched for a moment as Powers got out of his car and walked up to the gate.  He stood before it, not moving.

“There he goes again.  He’s got to be up to something!  Nobody lives here anymore!”  Dipper shouted as he leaned on the dash board.

“Actually doesn’t that old hillbilly guy live here now?” Thompson asked as he turned to Lee for confirmation.  Lee simply shrugged.

The windows inside the manor flashed with a blue light several time before going dark.

“Great, how much do you want to bet McGucket is making something in there?” Wendy asked as she giggled and turned to Mabel.

“Yea! I bet he’s making something in there, like a transforming hedgehog or a boyfriend that runs on batteries or something!”  Mabel giggled.

Wendy blushed.  “A what?”

“You know, a big hedgehog that turns into a truck or something!” She replied.

Wendy glanced at Dipper who just shrugged.

As the color returned to Wendy’s face Powers returned to his car and started it.

“Uh oh guys.  Everyone down, he’s gotta come this way.”  Wendy called out as she turned her engine and ducked down.

Everyone dove and waited.  As the light from Powers’ SUV hit them it seems to hover over them for a moment before continuing.  The group gave a sigh of relief as the SUV moved on.  Wendy threw the car in drive and spun them around, following Powers car again.

 

Darkness fell nearly a half hour later.  They had followed as long as they could until the truck itself protested.  Stopping at the local gas station Lee and Thompson took their leave as they lived not far.  The twins, while disappointed, resigned themselves to the fact that they would have to give up for the day.

As Wendy turned down the path to the shack the mood was a mixture of solemn and cheery.

“Sorry about wasting your day Wendy.” Dipper frowned as he said it.

“Don’t worry about it dude.  It was nice hanging out with you two again.  I’m sure Lee and Thompson had a blast too.”

“Yea, it was like we were secret agents today!” Mabel added excitedly pointing her fingers like guns.  “We chased down the bad guy without getting caught!”

Wendy and Dipper chuckled as the shack came into view.

“Welp, here you are guys.  All safe and sound.”

Wendy stopped the truck at the end of the drive.  The twins hopped out and stretched out.

“Thanks for today Wendy!” Mabel smiled as she waved.

“My pleasure dudes!” Wendy replied as she tipped her at to them.

The twins shut the door and watched as she pulled down the road.

“Well I guess today wasn’t a complete bust, at least we saw Grunkle Stan’s show, and we kinda went on an adventure.” Mabel turned towards the shack.

“Yea, it was fun.” Dipper replied as he yawned.

Neither twin was paying much attention as they approached the shack, if they had they would have noticed that there was one additional vehicle in the parking lot.  A black SUV, its occupant missing.  What the twins would notice was when the rounded the shack to the gift shop Agent Powers was standing there looking straight at the shack with his hand gripping his head in pain.

Both twins stopped dead in their tracks.  Neither one wanted to move out of fear of being noticed.  Finally Agent Powers lowered his hand and looked straight at the shack again.

“I remember now, this was the place Stanford Pines lives.  This was the place we were monitoring for those weird energy readings.  We chased him back here and were about to look in the . . . “ He trailed off, his eyes narrowing.  “The basement.  We were going to look in the basement!”

Dipper was shocked.  Agent Powers remembered everything from last year!  This was bad, if he called his government buddies back that would be the end of the Grunkles.  One was wanted for stealing nuclear waste and the other was, well, the person they thought stole the waste.

Dipper couldn’t understand at first how this person could remember, after all it took Fiddleford a while to remember but that was only after they had recovered his memories.  Then it hit him.  Something Powers had said last year, that he had a rare disorder that prevented him from feeling humor that must have done it.  It was a stretch but it was the only logical explanation.

These were the thoughts that passed Dippers mind in the three second.  Unfortunately for him Mabel’s thought passed much quicker, and so did her mouth.  Dipper couldn’t stop her once she started.

“Dipper he remembers!” She shouted.

It took exactly one second for Dipper to realize how bad that was.  It took Mabel three.  Powers on the other hand took less than a second to react to her shout.

“You two, stop right there!” He shouted as he slowly began to approach them.

The twins had one reaction to that, the turned and ran as fast as they could.  Sadly their shorter legs were no match for someone who trained on a daily basis for this and Powers caught them in an instant. He grabbed them by the arm and spun them around.

“You two!”  He scowled.  “I recognize you two!”

“No, you’re mistaken, were not them.  Um, um, were just passing by tourists!” Mabel tried to give an excuse.  Dipper could only gulp. 

“Don’t give me that.  You’re those kids who’ve been tailing me all day.  What are you up to?”  He twisted their arms in a way that made them immediately recognize that he could hurt them badly if he wanted to.

“We, oww, we just wanted to know why you came back.” Dipper yelp out as the pain shot through his arm.

“Came back?  You knew I was here?”  He paused, cringing in pain for a second. “You two, you’re the twins we captured last year.  Your Stanford’s niece and nephew.”

“Yes, oww, please you’re hurting me.” Mabel cried out.

Powers released the two, stepping back from them.  They knew not to run, that even split up it would mean one of them would be caught.  They had no choice.

“What do you want with us?” Dipper asked, rubbing the part of his arm that Powers had grabbed.

Powers thought about this for a moment.  What did he really want?  Closure, vindication, or was it something else?

“I want to go into the basement of this place.”  He finally decided on.

The twins looked at each other; they knew they really didn’t have much of a choice.

“Alright, but what are you going to do after that” Mabel asked.

Powers didn’t reply immediately.  Finally he said but one thing.

“Depends.”

Resigned to their fate the twins motioned for Agent Powers to follow them.  There was no plan, no scheme to get them out of this one.  They both realized that this would be all up to what ‘Depends’ meant.

As the trio entered the gift shop it was eerily quiet.  Mabel contemplated calling for help but decided against it in case Powers would react badly to that.  She could hear Waddles prancing walking around in the kitchen and knew she couldn’t risk him getting involved.

“Over there.” Dipper pointed to the vending machine. “Just enter the code and it opens a secret door to the basement.”

Powers gave him a hard look, judging the validity of the comment, but decided that there wasn’t anything this child would do to trick him.  Walking up to the machine he prepared to enter the code.

“A” Dipper called out.

“A” Powers confirmed as he punched it in.  The button lit up

“1”

“1” The button too lit up.

“B”

“B” Again the button lit up.

“C”

“C” This too lit up.

“3”

As Power moved to hit the next button the machine swung open and a man walked out straight into him.  The two were knocked down.  Powers quickly recovered and looked to see who this assailant was.  The man was an older gentleman wearing a sweater and rubbing his head where he fell.  He looked vaguely like Stanford Pines, though it seemed something was off about him, starting with an extra digit on the hand he was rubbing his head with.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” The man quickly apologized.  “I really should put a buzzer on the other side so we don’t let this happen again.

The two men quickly regained their composure.  As they did the older man grabbed a picture he had been holding.  Powers saw that he had also dropped a letter and reached for it.

“I should be the one to apologize; I didn’t realize you were coming out of there.” Powers grabbed the letter and stood up.

As he started to hand the letter to the other man he stopped with his eye caught something. 

“Stanford Pines?”  He looked up at the man.  “You’re Stanford Pines?”

“That is correct.  I’m Stanford Pines.  Why, do you know of me?” The man asked as he stood up himself.

Reading the letter fully he saw something else that caught his eye.  The logo of the letter was a logo he recognized well.

“Where did you get this letter?” Powers asked as he handed the letter to Ford.

“It was sent to me, I just received it today.  Why do you ask?” Ford asked as he took the letter.

Things still didn’t add up.  Why nobody could remember anything about this town?  Why did it cause him pain every time he remembered things?

What did add up though was the irony of the situation he was now in.  Here before him was a man who he should have arrested for stealing nuclear waste and causing major disturbances.  Yet of all the things that person could be holding it had to be that letter.

“Sir” Ford asked again.

“That letter is from the same agency I work for.  If they want to recruit you then you must be an amazing person.”

Ford stopped for a moment, his eyes flitting around as he thought.

“You say you work for the same agency?  Tell me, do you enjoy it?”

 

* * *

 

I stood there.  Of all the questions one could ask that would have been the last I would have ever expected.  My response should have been immediate affirmation, yet it wasn’t.  Instead all I could do was turn and slowly walked outside. 

My mind wandered for a moment to the last conversation the Director and I had before I left.  I was always in the pursuit of the weird, even before I joined the agency.  When I joined I thought it was the best job one could have, yet in recent years I became less sure.

I heard he creek of pine needles as someone approached from behind and stood beside me.  I gave it a quick glance to see that it was Ford.  Lighter footsteps behind me indicate that the two kids are probably behind me also. 

I look up at the sky.  The stars are shining brightly, something you don’t see in the city that I live in.  I close my eyes and gave out a big sigh.  I was finally ready to admit it.

“You asked me if I enjoyed it?”

“Do you?”

“No, I don’t think I do.”

Ford held up the picture he was holding.

“I see, I guess we have our answers then.”

I could only nod.  It was time for something different.  A feeling came over me for a brief moment.  I could feel my cheeks cramp for a moment before releasing.  Without even think I made a sound, one that I had only heard from others before.  I think. . . I think I laughed a little.

 

* * *

 

The room was only lit with a few candles and lamps.  The man in the lab coat was working on a panel along the wall when the door opened.  The man paused but for a second and looked over his shoulder before continued his work.  Finally satisfied he inserted the time tape and other two devices he received in to slots and closed the panel.

He stepped back as the footsteps came closer.

“I reckon ya’ll are ready.” The man stepped into the light revealing himself as Fiddleford McGucket.

The man in the lab coat walked over to a control panel.

“Yes, everything we have worked for will soon come to fruition.”

“I hope it’s worth it though.  You’re about to make some big enemies.” Fiddleford took of his hat and stood at his full height.

“I know.”  The figure turned and began adjusting switches. 

The room began to fill with light as panel after panel lit up.  The large dining room was filled with machinery all whirling to life.  The figure adjusted a few dials.  In the middle of the room a large portal apparatus sprang to life.  Bolts of electricity flared out as the figure keep adjusting the panel. 

“I’ve got it.  Just a little while longer and the connection will be established.”  The figure walked before the portal which was slowly become larger and larger.  The figure smiled as he mumbled to himself, “Here we go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this one came a little late. Blame my art classes for this as they are during the three best days for me writing. Anyhow I hope you enjoy and as always comments and critiques are always welcome as I always wish to improve.
> 
> Anyhow, just two more till the finale of this arc. Many a question will be answered, many things that have been so visible they were not noticed will be revealed. What is going on in Gravity Falls? Just wait to find out (hopefully within the next two weeks.) After that is is back to the drawing board for the next arc. Some thing have been planned and already set up but I'll need some time off to plan it all out (also to take these classes).
> 
> GSRH RH GSV YVTRMMRMT LU GSV VMW


	11. Seasons Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With all that has gone on in recent days the twins decide to take a day off to sit back, relax, and enjoy themselves with nothing to do.

Papa slammed his hands down the desk as he shouted.  In all my life I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this mad.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!”  He grabbed the nearest map and studied it.  All I or Mother could do was watch him.  Only getting angrier he threw the map away.  Turning to us he slammed both of his hands on the table again, this time throwing all of the other maps to the ground.  “ITS ALL FAKE!”

He calmed down only slightly.  “I’ve now missed my chance to dig for that gold, gold that would have made our family rich again.  Now we can’t thanks to that stupid mayor making those things ‘Protected Landmarks.’”  He used air quotes to emphasize the protected landmarks.

Truth be told, after we stopped daddy from digging Mr. Pines went to the mayor and made a case for the stones to be left untouched.  I threw in my lot as a Northwest to try to convince him and it worked.  The very next day he revoked daddy’s permit and slapped a protection order on them.

“And you!  How could you play a part in this?!”  I could only look away, unsure of what to say.

Well, actually I knew what I wanted to say.  I wanted to tell him his plan had been stupid to begin with and I was actually happy that Dipper and Mr. Pines got in the way.  I wanted to tell him that he just kept becoming worse and worse the more he obsessed about money.

But I couldn’t.  I couldn’t say a word.

He just stared at me.  Even without looking I could tell his burning gaze was focused on me.  A long time passed without a word, then Mother tried to speak.

“Darling, just hear her out.  I’m sure she had a . . . “

She never finished her sentence.  I closed my eyes as I heard the fist slam into the table, the shattering of the wood of what was once a sturdy desk.  Mother could only gasp, covering her mouth to try to stifle it.

“There is no excuse.  She is a Northwest, we do not go behind each other’s backs.  We act like the dignified family that we are and we _make money_.”

Those last words hurt to hear.  The pain they caused was far greater now than it had ever been when we were rich.  I finally mustered the courage to look up at daddy.  His gaze was cold.  I could see a little blood running down his hand. 

“Pacifica Northwest you leave me no choice.  If you will not come into a Northwest yourself I will have to force it on you in the same way it was forced on all the members of our family.   Pricilla, call the boarding school and see if they will take Pacifica in by next week, she needs to be educated on what it really means to be a Northwest and it’s best they start early.” 

Mother could only nod meekly.  She knew what this meant.  Daddy turned his gaze at me again.

“For now Pacifica you are confined to your room unless we call you out.”  He waited a moment for me to move.  I couldn’t, I was frozen there in fear of what was happening.  “NOW”

I turned on my heel and sprinted for my room.

The boarding school.  Mother had told me about it once and nothing she told me was good.  It was a place you sent errant girls to learn how to be the ladies they were meant to be and the boys to be the men like my father was now, all obsessed with money and power.

If he intended to send me there in less than a week that means something more to me.  It meant that my summer was over not even a month after it began.  I don’t know why that bugged me more than going away did. 

I jumped into my bed and buried my face in my favorite pillow.  Tears were starting to roll down my face.  I realized I would have to fix my mascara but I could do that later.  My thoughts were wild and coming fast.

Why did this have to happen?  Why does he have to send me off?  I just wanted to have fun like a normal kid for once and for once I was. 

I turned over and looked up at the ceiling.  Normally I don’t think I would have cared about being sent off but this time was different.  For some reason hanging out with Mabel and Dipper made everything feel, well, fun.  I wanted to keep this feeling for as long as I could but I know I’ve blown it.

My thoughts were interrupted by a light rasping at my door.  I look over to see mother sticking her head in the doorway.

“Pacifica, are you okay?”  I can only turn away from her to hide my feelings.  “Dear, can I come in?”

I sighed, “Alright mother.” 

I could hear her close the door.  I could feel her sit on the side of my bed.

“Dear, I know this is harsh but your father knows what’s best for you.”

My stomach cringes at the thought.

“Does he?  Does he really?”  I asked, knowing the answer that was coming.

Mother didn’t speak for a moment, a long moment.  When she finally did she surprised me.

“Well, no, he actually doesn’t.  Honestly your father wouldn’t know which shoes to wear if I hadn’t helped him with that for years.”

I turned over to look at her.  She was smiling at me and I couldn’t help to smile back.  She gently wiped away a tear that had rolled down my cheek.

“This whole thing reminds of when I meet your father for the first time all those years ago.  He was a rambunctious boy, barely able to contain himself from his adventures.”

Mother began to slowly stroke the hair on my head.

“His father, your grandfather, hated the fact that I was always by his side, said I didn’t come from money and he shouldn’t care about a tomboyish girl like me.  He even threatened to send Preston to the same school that he’s sending you to.”

“What happened?  I take it he didn’t?”

“Oh no, he did.  But the thing was I waited for him.  I knew he would be different but I already knew what I wanted long before he left and I knew what I wanted when he came back.  He may have changed a little but I knew he was the same Preston who declared his intent for me before he left.”

I was confused.  What did this have to do with what I was going through?  The confusion must have been evident on my face as she patted my head and stood up.

“I think I’ll take your father out to brunch.  I do hope you can take care of yourself in the meantime.  Maybe a little fresh air will help you get a clear head on what you want.”

As she walked to the door she gave me one last look and winked as she shut the door.

 

* * *

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to help us plan this?”  Mabel asked as she took another scoop of her cereal into her mouth.

“No Mabel, this is _your_ thing, not mine.”  Dipper replied, taking a bite of his toast.  “Plus, the last time we planned something like this it went horribly wrong.”

The twins were eating a late breakfast, having taken a day to sleep in.  The past few days had been a bit much for them and they were both ready for a break.

“Muh my muaht mah mhahgs ere mehe”  Mabel tried saying with her mouth full.  Several pieces of chewed up cereal flung out and hit Dipper in the face.

“What?  Mabel chew your food.” Dipper replied as he wiped the food off his face. Mabel swallowed what she was eating and pointed her spoon at him.

“Not my fault those things were there.  Who could have guessed that they would show up to our Grunkle Birthday Jamboree?”

Dipper gave an annoyed look at his sister.

“It was exactly your fault that giant glitter breathing ants showed up to the party!”

“Uh huh!”

“Mabel, who told you _not_ to take their growth serum? “

“Grunkle Ford!”

“And who told you to _not_ add a bunch of glitter to the mix?”

“Grunkle Stan!”

“And who told you to _not_ pour it down the anthill?”

“You?”

“And who did all of those things they were told not to?”

Mabel thought for a moment before cheerfully replying.

“OH, that _was_ me!”

“Thus whose fault is it that the ants showed up?”

She thought for a moment again.

“Uhh, Soos’s?  I mean he did bake that amazing cake and that’s what they were after.”

Dipper could only groan.  “Mabel. . . “

“What?  I’m in a family full of geeks and nerds, a girl’s gotta do her own experimenting too!”

Dipper just stared and took another bite of his toast.  Whether Mabel was serious about that experimenting part or not he wasn’t sure but he realized that in some ways she was right.

“Whatever.  This is your thing; go have fun with your friends planning this out.”  He paused for a moment to take another bite.  “So who’s coming anyway?”

“So far it’s me and Wendy and Candy and Gideon.” She counted off on her fingers as she replied.

“Gideon?  You’ve been hanging out with him a lot lately.  I didn’t think you guys would have become so good friends this summer.”  He took reached over and smeared some additional jam over his toast and took another bite.

“Yea, every time I’ve hung out with Candy Gideon wants to come with us.  Not that I mind, he’s actually been kinda fun to hang out with now that he isn’t going psycho on me.”  She took another scoop of her breakfast, stopping just short of eating it. “What about you?  You and Pacifica have spent an awfully lot of time together.”

Mabel’s sly look and Dipper blushing slightly told her everything he needed to know.

“Aww, don’t tell me my brother has another crush?!”  She chided him. 

“It’s not like that!  You know I don’t.”  He paused looking at the jam on his toast.  “It’s just, I don’t know, she seems different this year.  She’s more _tolerable_.”

“Right . . .”

Dipper shot an annoyed look at his sister.

“I told you, it’s not like that.  Plus there’s no way she would like me if it were.  We just hang out, that’s all.”

“Alone?”

Dipper shook his head. “No, Grunkle Ford is usually with us.  At the most we just searched for those stones that power the barrier.”

“If you say so.”  Mabel replied slyly as she finally took the food into her mouth.

Dipper just rolled his eyes.  “You better hurry up, everyone should be here soon.”

Mabel glanced up at the clock and a panic shot through her.  Everyone was coming over at 11 and it was 10:55.  She quickly started shoveling the food into her mouth and then drank the milk from the bowl. 

“At least watch out for Soos for me and make sure he doesn’t sneak up stairs while we’re planning this.”

“Alright, as you wish.”

Agreeing to this didn’t bother Dipper as he only had plans to watch TV today and Soos would have to go that way to get upstairs so he could kill two birds with one stone.  

Mabel quickly cleaned up her mess as Dipper slowly took the final bite of the toast he was eating.  She quickly ran out to the back door to wait for everyone while Dipper savored the jam, that last he would probably have today.

Finally having quiet Dipper got up and put away the plate he used to hold his toast.  Making his way to the family room he was greeted by another surprise guest.  Grandpa Sherman was sitting on the recliner, TV watching already in process.

“Grandpa Sherman, what are you doing here?” Dipper asked as he approached.

Sherman looked over and smiled warmly at his grandson. He motioned for Dipper to come over. Dipper walked over and sat on the skull that was the makeshift end table.

“Morning there sport.”  He chuckled at the morning part considering it was almost noon.  “I was going to take a hike with your Great Uncles this morning but it seems that Stan slept in since today is his day off and Ford’s been busy with some contraption of his so I decided that while I’m here I might as well plant down and watch some TV.”

“Oh.  Well sorry about that.  I guess it’s kind of everyone’s day off today.  Mabel and I are taking it easy today too.”  Sherman listened intently as his grandson explained. “She and I, well, let’s just say it’s been another adventure since we got back.  So today we decided to take it easy.  She’s got a few friends coming over for something but otherwise we’re just going to sit back, relax, and let nothing happen.  No adventures, no mysteries, not plot developments.  Just a lazy day.”

Sherman laughed. “Hahaha. Okay, if you say so Dipper.”  He stopped and picked up the remote.  “So what do you want to watch?”

“Hmm.” Dipper contemplated as he held his chin in his hands.

 

Mabel paced back and forth as she waited for her friends to show up.  Thankfully her patience was rewarded when Wendy’s red truck pulled into the parking lot.  She stopped pacing and waited, giddy with anticipation, for the occupants to get out. 

As the passenger side door opened the first person to get out was Gideon.  He quickly turned around and offered his hand to allow Candy to jump down.  She took his hand and jumped.  Finally Wendy rounded the front of the truck to meet up with them.  As the group turned they saw Mabel and waved.  She responded by waving both hands in the air frantically.  

As the group approached the porch Wendy was the first to speak.

“Sup girl.  Hope you’re ready for this!  We were coming up with all sorts of plans in the ride over here.”

“You bet I am.  I’ve got everything ready upstairs for the four of us!”

“Is Dipper not coming” Candy asked.

Mabel frowned “No, he said he didn’t want to help with this one, something about the ants from last time.”

The group shuddered at the memory of the ants.  They were huge, the size of a cow and breathed fiery glitter.  If it hadn’t been for Ford and Pacifica that day they would have all been in a real pinch.

“He is going to watch out for Soos for us.  So at least we don’t have to worry about that.” Mabel continued.

“Well isn’t he just the gentleman.  Helping us out in his own way.” Gideon smiled.

Mabel just shrugged.  She motioned for the group to come inside.  Once inside she saw that Dipper was sitting with Grandpa Sherman on the recliner.  In her haste to get outside she had run past her grandpa without noticing.

“Grandpa Sherman!  When did you get here?”

Sherman just chuckled and shook his head.  Mabel didn’t wait for a response further and headed upstairs with her friends, excited to get the planning started.

 

* * *

  

The door burst open Mabel rushed into the room.  Quickly doing a 180 into the storage space she began to pull out all sorts of glitter and other craft materials.  The rest of the group slowly entered behind her, less enthusiastic mind you, but still excited.

A quick glace around the room and the group realized that Mabel and Dipper had only gotten half ready for them.  A table was set up and several chairs were there, along with cups, plates, and a pitcher of Mabel Juice in the center of the table.  Anywhere else this would have been a child’s version of a board room but here?  It was the Mabel and Friends Party Planning HQ.

Candy took her seat first with the other two joining her as Mabel continued to pull out more supplies.  Finally satisfied she gathered up what she could and made her way to the table, almost dropping everything she had on the way.

“Whoa girl, you think we need all of that?  We’re just planning the party out today not getting everything ready.”  Wendy laughed as Mabel wheezed at her overexertion.

“Of course.” She paused a second to catch her breath. “Never do anything unless you’re willing to take it to the extreme!”

She looked back at the remainder of the stuff she had pulled out and waved it off, taking her seat at the table.

“Oh, before we begin I have something.” Candy interjected.  She pulled out a postcard from her pocket. “I have another post card from Grenda!”

“Whatis say?!” Mabel leaned forward enthusiastically.

“I can’t do Grenda’s voice as well as you.  Would you like to read it?”  She offered up the postcard to Mabel who took it with a big smile on her face.

Looking it over it had a picture of Greenland on it, somewhere she didn’t know but it looked pretty.  She cleared her throat as she prepared to talk like Grenda.

“HEY GIRLS, WHATS UP!?”  Mabel coughed and took a drink of juice to help herself out then started again. “JUST WANTED TO GIVE YOU THE GOOD NEWS!  MARIUS SAID THAT WE’RE HEADING YOUR WAY NOW!  ALL OF A SUDDEN HE WANTED TO GO BACK TO GRAVITY FALLS!  I’M SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU AGAIN, TO BE HONEST IT’S BEEN REALLY WEIRD HERE LATELY.  MARIUS HAS STARTED TO GO ALL AUSTRIAN FASHION ON ME AND WEARS GLASSES ALL THE TIME.  HES ALSO A BIT LESS CLINGY WHICH MAKES ME ANGRY, WHY DOESN’T HE CLING TO ME ANYMORE?  I HOPE HE’S NOT BORED OF ME NOW!  ANYWAY, WE’LL BE BACK SOON.”

Mabel nearly lost it at the last part, taking another long drink to soothe her burning throat.

“Oh my, it sounds like she’s having relationship troubles.”  Gideon said.

“That’s not good.  I thought she and Marius were perfect for each other.”  Candy added.

“Well, you just never know with relationships.  Sometimes the one you think is perfect for you turns out to be something else.”  Wendy relayed.

The group stayed silent for a moment with that thought in mind.  Candy and Gideon looked up at each other with questioning looks but then shook it off.  Finally Mabel broke the silence.

“No use crying over spilled relationships right?”  The others could only give confused looks at her before smiling at her attempt to break the silence.  “Alright, I hereby call the Soos and Melody Baby Shower Party Extravaganza Organization Meeting to order!”

The group nodded excitedly.  Due to Mabel and Dipper finding out about Melody’s pregnancy she had decided to do something special for the expecting couple and with only a month or so left before the baby is due they had to plan quick.

Starting to shoot ideas back and forth for a few minutes the table became covered in different sheets and drawings of plans.  Realizing that they needed more space to hold things up Mabel began searching for something to hang these plans on.  Spotting the only thing in the room with enough space for it she made her way to the door.

She quickly opened the door she shouted down the stairs.

“DIPPER WE’RE GOING TO USE YOUR CONSPIRIACY BOARD.  THANKS!”

She slammed the door shut as quickly as possible and ran over to the board, quickly removing pictures and string from it.

“Mabel, is your brother going to be mad you are doing that?” Candy asked.

“Nah, I’m sure he’s got this new journal thing figured out already!”  She replied.

“Wait, what journal?”  Gideon asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Mabel stopped for a second and turned to look at her companions.  They were all giving her questioning looks.  Pulling one last pin from the board, a pin over a picture of man with reddish hair and a goatee with the words ‘This guy again!’ written on it, the entire contents fell to the floor.

“Oops” was all she could say as she looked down at the mess she now made on the floor.  It dawned on her she could have taken a picture prior to doing this so that Dipper would at least have a reference on what he had before.  Resigning that what was done was done she walked over to the table and began to explain the new journal.

 

Dipper heard the call of his sister but it took him a second to process what she had said.  By the time he did the door had slammed shut.

“MABEL NO!” He shouted as he jumped up and started to run to the stairs.  He stopped only when Sherman called out to him.

“What’s the matter there kiddo?”  Sherman’s tone soothed Dipper’s panic momentarily.  “What board was she talking about?”

Dipper stopped at the bottom of the stairs.  He sighed, knowing by now the whole thing was probably gone.  Turning back to his grandfather Dipper produced his journal from the bag he kept it in on the floor.

“Here.” He said as he handed it to his grandfather, who took the journal and started looking over the cover.  “This is what I was trying to figure out.”

Confused Sherman began flipping through the pages.  “What _is_ this?”

“Someone’s journal.  I got it when we arrived here.”  He paused a moment. “Well I should say I got it back in Piedmont.  It was in the package that was left in my room.”

“So that was what was in that.”  Sherman whispered.  Realizing from the look on his face that Dipper had heard him he spoke up.  “Sorry, I saw it sitting on your bed when I passed by to go to the bathroom before you guys got home.”

“Oh.  Well I thought it was Grunkle Ford’s new journal since, you know, he wrote the one I was using last year.  Turns out he doesn’t know what it is so I’m trying to figure out who wrote it.”

 

“So your brother has a new journal, does he?”  Gideon asked, almost giving a sinister laugh but recovered.  “I bet you two have had all sorts of wondrous adventures this summer due to that.”

“I don’t know.  It’s been pretty normal I guess.  Well normal like last year.”  She stopped to think a minute, finally taking a seat again.   Everyone in the room was now waiting with baited breath, the current meeting seemingly being pushed off for this new thing.

“First thing I remember we did was go exploring, well that and find out our Grandpa decided to move into town.”  She recalled.  Smiling as the thought of being with both her Grandfather, and more importantly Waddles filled her with joy.

Taking a quick look over to him Waddles sat as if enjoying the conversation too.  He had even gotten some glitter on his hooves and had stamped out a few things on a paper that had fallen nearby.  Giving a happy oink as if to tell her to go on she continued. 

“Dipper and I went exploring on the second day back.  He wanted to check something in the journal.  We found it of course, no thanks to his sense of direction.  Turns out it was this big stone that sat in the middle of the forest.  It was an awesome second day.”

 

Sherman flipped through a few more pages before reaching one that looked new and that it had been taped in.  Dipper touched the page, recalling finding the first stone in the woods.

“The journal was missing pages so when Mabel and I looked we didn’t know what we were looking for.  Turns out Mabel’s guess that the directions were backwards was spot on.” Dipper stopped and shuddered a moment. “We almost got eaten that day.”

Flipping a few pages further the stopped on another page taped in, this time one that looked the place.

“You were missing quite a few pages it seems.” Sherman commented.

“Yea, Mabel found this one when a cryptid hunter came into town.  Turns out he had it.  I think the author, or at least the last owner, of the book is trying to do something with the missing pages.”

 

“You nearly died?!” Candy shouted in amazement.

“Yea, but we didn’t.”  Mabel played it off.  “It wasn’t like it was a few days later when we were at the junkyard.”  She shot Gideon a look as he beamed a smile back.

“Well, I don’t think we were in any real danger now were we?”  Gideon added.  “After all both Stanley and Stanford were there and I’m sure they would have come up with something.”

“Hey! Don’t down play your contribution.  It was your plan that allowed me to get up there and stop that monster!”  Mabel playfully chided Gideon who blushed.

“Aw shucks, it wasn’t nothing.”

 

“Yea, missing pages bug me a little but it wasn’t all a loss with them.”  Dipper said as he flipped back to the hand-made page.  “Grunkle Ford and I did figure out what this one was supposed to be, or at least where all of these stones were.”

“Oh really.”  Sherman counted the circles that adorned the two pages.  10 smaller circles on a larger circle, all around what he would guess what a poorly drawn map of the town.  “So how did you find them?”

“Actually, it wasn’t just us.  There was this girl, her names Pacifica, turns out her dad was about to destroy one and she helped to us find it and stop him.”

“Oooohhh, a girl you say.”  Sherman goaded his grandson. “What’s she like?”

“Grandpa Sherman, not you too!” Dipper laughed. “It’s not like that!”

“Not like what?  I didn’t say anything.” He replied with a cheeky grin on his face.

Dipper sighed.

 

“Oh yea the play!”  Mabel shouted.  “I forgot you guys missed it while you were doing the play!”

“Missed what?” Candy asked.

“Bill came back!”  Mabel retorted as she smiled.  The name alone would have caused the three to reel in horror but the smile added a new level of fear to them.

“B B B BILLL”  Gideon stuttered.

“Well, I don’t know if it was actually Bill.  He was kinda all black, and made of paper.”  This new info confused the group, allowing them to calm down.

“Girl, what are you talking about.” Wendy inquired.

“Well, it turns out all the while Bill was back it was because of the stupid copier.”  More confusion washed over them.  “Oh yea, I don’t think we ever told you about that.  Turns out the copier in the office can make copies of living beings, or something.  Dipper even showed me two copies of himself that he made last year during the dance.”

“Dude, _that’s_ why I saw multiple Dippers at the dance last year.  I thought I was going crazy for a moment!”  Wendy dropped her clenched hand into her palm in revelation.

“Yea, so apparently two of them survived and helped us beat Bill while you guys were at the play.”

 

“What about that guy I met the other day?  You know, the balding one wearing white.”  Sherman asked.

“Oh that guy?  His names Blendin and he’s from far in the future.”  Dipper sat back in the chair with his grandfather, having gotten up when he was explaining Bill’s presence.

“The future?  Wow, that’s wild.  He did leave in a hurry though.”  Sherman flipped a few pages in the book.  “Does he have an entry in here?”

“No, I don’t think so.”  Dipper laughed.  “He left cause he couldn’t find his back up Time Tape.”

“Time tape?”  Sherman asked.

“It looks like a tape measure but it allows him to travel through time.”

“Amazing.”

“Well it would be if it worked.  When we went to the future to save his, err, boss it screwed up and sent us somewhere else.”

“Wow, what happened there?”

 

“Blendin messing up was bad.  I think we got sucked back to last year.  Or maybe not, he _did_ say it was the future I suppose.”  Mabel recalled.  “We nearly got caught too but this kid saved us.  She showed us this tunnel where she and some other people were hiding.”

“Anyone we know?” Candy asked.

“Don’t know.  All of them had their faces covered so I didn’t get a good look at them.  We only stayed a few minutes anyway before going to the future.”

“So you said you had to beat a time baby?  How’d you do it?”  Wendy asked.

“Well the most amazing thing was, we didn’t!”  She threw up her arms.  “Soos did!  He’s been working so hard to figure out how to be a good dad he ended up calming the baby down.   That’s when we found out about his baby on the way.”

“How’d you not figure out that Melody was pregnant?  You live with her.”  Gideon asked in a snarky tone.  Mabel shot him a look that could have caused a Manotaur to shirk in fear.

“Hey mister.  It’s not like I notice everything that happens in Gravity Falls alright!  So I missed one thing! Sue me!” She retorted as she put her hands on her hips.

The group laughed at Mabel outburst.  Calming down Wendy spoke up.

“Speaking of sue, where is Pacifica?  Did you not invite her?”

“I did.  Her mom said she wouldn’t be able to make it though.  It sounded like something was going on with her dad.”  She replied with a hint of melancholy in her tone.

“Aww man, I hope it’s nothing too bad.” 

Mabel shrugged.

 

“So sounds like you’ve had quite an adventure since the two of you got back.”  Sherman closed the journal, handing it back to Dipper.

“Absolutely.  Between the journal and all of the weird stuff that happened I don’t think we’ve had a dull day.  Honestly I think I’m just ready for. . . “  Without finishing Dipper spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. “Soos, don’t go upstairs.”

For the past few minutes Soos, instincts sharp as ever, had been stealthy trying to sneak through the room while Dipper was distracted.  Having nearly made it to the stairwell without being seen he had almost succeeded in his mission.

“Okay dude.”  With that Soos turned, crossed the living room to the gift shop, and left.

“What was I saying?  Oh yea, Mabel and I are ready for a day to just kick back, relax, and do nothing.”  Dipper said as he allowed himself to sink into the chair with his Grandpa.

“Well, I understand.  How about we watch something you want to watch?  Sounds like you’ve earned what little time you’ll get.”

Dipper smiled and grabbed the remote.  Before he could change the channel to the ‘Used to be about History Channel’ there was a loud banging at the back door.

 

* * *

  

They hadn’t even gotten up from the chair with the back door flung open and the cause of the uproar entered.  Standing in the entrance way was Preston Northwest, complete in his finest suit and tie.  The emotion on his face was nothing short of seething, a dark anger that could be felt but even the least sensitive of people.

“Where is she?!”  Preston yelled into the living room. Sherman and Dipper could only stare in bewilderment.  Preston, even angrier at not being responded to stomped into the room and repeated his line. “Where is she?!”

Another moment of fear and bewilderment was finally broken when Sherman stood to meet the man.  Walking up to him and offering his hand Sherman tried to introduce himself.

“I don’t believe we’ve met.  Names Sherman Pines, and who might you be?”  Sherman’s stretched out arm hanging in the air for Preston to take.

Preston afforded him no pleasantries, slapping away his hand.  “I don’t care who you are, I want to know where Pacifica is hiding!”

The mention of Pacifica’s name snapped Dipper out of his stupor.  Getting up from the chair and making his way around his grandfather he tried to calm the man down.

“Mr. Northwest, please calm down.  What’s going on, what happened to Pacifica?”  His tone soothing, hoping that he could affect the man’s mood.  Sadly, the man would not be swayed, his voice retaining the harsh tone, his volume only increasing.

“You!” He stared at Dipper with intense hatred in his gaze.  “ _You’re_ the one that’s been corrupting her.”  Dipper could only stare in confusion again.  “Tell me, where is she hiding.  Where is Pacifica!”

Dipper could only try to stammer out a short response.  “I, she, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  Pacifica isn’t here!”

“Nonsense!  She has to be here.  I’ve already checked all of the other places she could be.  This is the last place she could have gone.” 

As his shouting had gotten intense this had alerted the ones who were planning the party above.  They had made their way down the stairs only to catch the tail end of the rant.

“Dipper!” Mabel whispered loudly. “What’s Pacifica’s dad doing here?”

Preston, having heard her, turned his gaze to the four.  Quickly scanning them to see if Pacifica was among them he was not consoled.

“You there.  Where is my daughter?  Where is Pacifica?!” Preston said, acknowledging the presence of the remainder of the group.

“Wait? Pacifica’s missing?” Wendy asked.  “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Preston tried to retort.  His anger slightly abated for a second as he attempted to hide his involvement, even from himself.  “We had a discussion this morning and when we returned she was gone from the manor.”

The group gave each other worried looks.

“I’ve checked every location, this the last place she could have gone so tell me where is she hiding!”  Preston began to push past them, as if he would find her hiding behind the four.

“Pacifica is not here.”  Candy told him as he pushed past her.  “If she is missing then we should look for her together.”

“That’s right!  If she’s out there we can help you search for her!” Gideon added.

Preston stopped at the bottom of the stairs.  Not wanting to go up to the attic of this lower domicile he turned to the group who was already huddling together to plan out the search.  Within moments the group ran past him and into the forest, ready to search out where his daughter may have gone.

“What?  Wait!”  He tried as they ran past him, oblivious to the situation.

He was left standing in the entry way, now alone save for the older man who stood behind him.

“What really happened?”  The older man asked.  His tone was more of concern than anything else.  Preston felt compelled to turn and face this man.

“Whatever do you mean?”  He replied.

The older man sighed.  “You know, I’ve had kids myself.  When parents usually say they ‘had a conversation’ it usually means a fight.”  He paused to let that sink into Preston.  “So why don’t you tell me what really happened.”

Again, Preston wanted nothing to do with this man but felt compelled to listen to his wisdom.

“Fine, you really want to know?  That boy and his Great Uncle have been a poor influence on my Pacifica.  She used to be a good girl, obedient, thoughtful.  Now?  She openly defies me and helped them ruin all of my plans!”

Sherman turned and took his place in the seat again.  Preston followed him into the room, his mood calming from before.

“And?  That doesn’t usually cause your kid to run away.”

“How did you know she ran away?”

Sherman laughed.  “I told you, didn’t I?  I’ve had a kid before.  I’ve seen this at least once or twice in my day.”

“I’m sure you’re just mistaken.” Preston snapped as he walked in circles in front of the older man.

“Oh, I don’t think so.  Let me ask you this.  What were you going to do about her ‘defying you’?”

“I was. . . “ Preston stopped himself.  Why was he telling all of this to a person he never met before?  It didn’t make sense but at the same time nothing about this family made sense.  They were all extremely weird.  No matter, in for a penny or so the saying goes.  “I had informed her that she would be attending boarding school starting next week.”

“Wow!  That’s harsh.  I take it she didn’t take it well?”  The old man relaxed into the chair.

“I don’t know.  She’s a Northwest.  It’s not about her feelings, it’s about the family.”

“Hmm.” Sherman acted in deep contemplation.  “Let me ask you this.  When was the last time you sat down and listened to what your daughter has to say?”

“I listen to her all the time I. . . “

“ _No_.” Sherman cut him off.  “I mean _really_ listen.  Listen to the feelings in her heart, not just the words she speaks, not just the name she carries.”

“What are you talking about?  That makes no sense!”

“Listen, I know it sounds weird, but take it from a guy who’s done this before.  You have to take a step back and just let them talk every once in a while.  Sometimes you’ll hear things you never would have otherwise.”

Incensed at this old man’s ramblings Preston had reached the point where he had enough.  Turning to the door one again he began to storm out, intent on searching for his daughter himself again.  Nearly reaching the door the old man called out to him again.

“One last thing.”  Preston turned to face the old man, only to flinch as an umbrella was thrown at him.  “You’re going to want that if you go searching for her.”

Preston looked over the umbrella a moment before holding it out.  “You expect me to use this myself?”

Sherman chuckled.  “Only if you don’t want to get wet!”

 

The group had decided that Pacifica really only had 3 options as to how she could have gone missing or run away.  Her first option would be to run away from Gravity Falls completely, but considering that it would require her to board a bus and that just didn’t seem like something she would ever do they ruled that out.  The second is that she was hiding somewhere else in town, but as Preston had said he had already checked her usual places and even if she had been in transit the place would have most likely called him and informed him of it.

Thus the group reasonably figured that her third option was the most likely.  Pacifica most likely had run into the woods to get away and most likely gotten lost.  While Dipper had pointed that out that her traveling with Grunkle Ford and himself made her a little more aware of where she was the woods themselves surrounding Gravity Falls were still large. 

To this end they realized that if she had run away the most likely area would have been in the woods that sat triangulated between the Shack, her house, and the old Northwest Manor.  To speed up the search the group split up and took walkie talkies to keep in contact.  So the group, just past noon, left the house in search of the missing girl.  Shortly after Preston too would begin his frantic search through the woods for his missing daughter.

“PACIFICA!” Wendy called out as she chopped away a branch that was in her way.  “PACIFICA!”

Wendy’s search so far had been fruitless.  She had probably covered almost a mile already and no sign of life at all.  This part of the forest creeped her out as normally she would see something, anything, to show that creatures lived out here.  This area was, well, barren of life other than the plants.  Yet there was nothing she could do but sigh and call out for her target again.

“PACIFICA!”  Candy called out.  She stopped as she heard a low growl in the bushes. “Pacifica?”

In a flash a cougar sprang forth from the bushes in attack position.  Ready to pounce she braced herself for a fight only for the cougar to shrink as it leapt at her.  Now barely the size of a mouse it scampered back into the bushes.  Candy stared for a moment in disbelief, not only at what happened but of her luck that it happened at all.

“MS. NORTHWEST!” Gideon called out.  He was having trouble navigating due to his stature and the fact that every once in a while some bugs, or leaves, or whatever detritus material that was just now, would get in his hair.  This forced him to stop and clean his hair, reapplying his spray to make sure the hold was firm. 

“PACIFICA!” Mabel shouted from up to the branch she was standing on.  Why she had decided to climb up she didn’t know but this did provide a really good view of the surrounding area.  She called out again as she jumped to another tree’s branch.  Landing harder than she expected she heard the creak below her.  Looking down it was less than a second before the branch broke and she started to fall nearly 30 feet to the ground, only saving herself with a quick use of her grappling hook to stop her fall.

“Phew.  That was close.”  She said as she breathed a sigh of relief.  “Why did Pacifica have to run away today of all days?  I wanted to just have fun.  Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to drag her back with me and make her help with the party!”

As Dipper passed another tree deep in the woods he heard the low rumbling from the sky.  Looking up through the canopy he could barely make out the dark clouds now covering the once sunny sky.

“Uh oh.” Was all he could exclaim before the rain began to start.  Dipper ran forward as he frantically searched for somewhere to hide from the impending downpour.  He had only four months of Oregon summer experience in him but he already knew that this storm was going to be short but heavy and he really didn’t want to get drenched to the bone.

Finally spotting a deep alcove made of tree roots he quickly ducked into it just as the rain hit its peak.  A quick glance told him the alcove was large enough he could stand and deep enough he could comfortably lie back.  He turned to look at the rain pour outside the alcove and gasped at the sheer force of the down pour.

“Oh wow.”  He muttered as he watched the rain drench the trees and leaves on the outside.  As Dipper stared he started to get this keen feeling that someone was watching him.  Breaking him from his focus he turned and got a better view of his hiding spot, only to notice something he had missed when he ducked in during his haste.

Sitting on the ground, propping her head up on her knees was Pacifica.  She was simply staring at Dipper without saying a word.  Finally noticing her Dipper started to wave only for her to speak up.

“Oh great, it’s you.  Why did you have to be the one to find me?” She muttered turning her gaze back to the opening and the rain.  Her tone leaving Dipper unsure of what she meant by that.

“Umm, hey.  We’ve been looking for you.”  Dipper said as he took a seat on the ground next to her.  “Your dads worried about you.  I mean, I guess he worried about you.  He sounded more angry than anything, but I think that’s how he’s always talked when I’m around.”

“Daddy’s not worried, he’s mad.”  She said with sadness in her voice.  “He found out I helped you guys.”

“Oh.” Was all Dipper could manage as he moved to sit besides her, looking out into the rain himself.

“He was super mad.  He says he’s going to send me off to boarding school starting next week.”  Dipper gave her a shocked look, he hadn’t even realized how bad it could get for her if she had been found out.  “Why did this happen?  Why did I let myself go along with you?”

“Pacifica. . . “ 

“Now I’m going to go to boarding school.  Now I’m going to be forced to become the Northwest that daddy always wanted.  I’m going to just be another rotten Northwest in our rotten family tree.” She sounded almost like she was about to cry.  Dipper couldn’t help but to feel horrible about this.  If he hadn’t dragged her along on his adventure then she would have been fine, or so he thought.

“Pacifica. . . “ He thought to himself for a second.  If her father had the intention of sending her to boarding school he probably would have done it anyway.  Her going now was a horrible punishment but Dipper realized this was probably enviable.  At the same time he realized something else.

“Pacifica, even if your father sends you to that school you don’t automatically become the person he wants.  You have a choice in this too.”  She looked up at him.  “Listen, remember when we first met, back at the dance and then at the Pioneer Day?”

She nodded.

“I thought you were the worst person in the world.  Heck, I even told you that to your face.”  He stopped to let that sink in.  He really did call her the worst, he remembered that now.  It seemed like so long ago.  “But look at you now.  I couldn’t say that.  Pacifica, you changed, and for the better.”

“Do you really think so?”  She looked a bit less gloom.

“Yea, I do.  All this time you have been hanging out with Grunkle Ford and I has been cool.  I’ve seen a new you, one who is more adventurous and one who breaks the old Northwest mold.  Pacifica, you’ve changed.”

Her smile faded and she turned to the entryway again.  “Sure, but I only changed because of you and Mabel.  You guys were the driving force for it.”  She paused and collected her thoughts.  “You two always caused trouble for me.  I would be leading a normal life if it hadn’t been for you two.”

Dipper shook his head.  “No Pacifica.  We may have been around but it was you who decided to change.”  She looked up at him again.  “No one can change without wanting to.  If you changed its because you wanted to.  You’re the only person who can decide what you want.”

Smiling Dipper laid his hand on hers.  She stopped and looked at it for a moment before asking him a question.

“Dipper.”  She started.

“Yea?”

“You’re saying I’m the only one who can decide what I want right?”

“Yea, no matter what you dad says if you don’t want to be a normal Northwest, well, then you won’t be.  It’s up to you what you want _and_ what you do.”

She pondered it for a minute.  The rain continued to pour, the intensity increasing with each second.  She looked at Dipper, staring into his eyes for a second, wondering why he had caused her to change so much.  Then, it finally hit her.

“Alright,” She finally said. “If I’m the only one who can choose what I want to do then what I want to do is this.”  With that she leaned over and placed her lips on Dipper.   It seemed as if time had stopped.  The rain, which had been torrential but a moment ago now let up, revealing a landscape freshly covered in dew, glistening behind the two.

Finally breaking from the kiss she pulled back and cowed her gaze, waiting for his judgment of her action.   Dipper on the other hand was stunned.  Never in his life had this happened.  Or at least, he thought, not with a human, or a girl for that matter.  His mind running as fast as it could to process the situation he finally stammered out something.

“I, uh, but why me?”  Was all he could manage.

Both of them blushed, a color of red that neither had seen before.  While the dew drenched forest view would have been a sight to behold the two could only stare into each other’s eyes.

“Cause, I like you.”  She finally replied.  “And, I guess I have for a while?”

“Yea but, wait, why did it sound like you weren’t sure.”  Dipper asked breaking from his stupor.

“Well, I mean, I guess I did know, it’s just I didn’t _know._ ”  She sighed.  She knew it was probably pointless telling him, after all he was dense on the situation for a while, plus she heard from Mabel how he didn’t even realize he liked Wendy for a while.  “It took me a while to sort my feeling okay?”

“I get it.”  Dipper replied, much to her surprise.  “I really do.”  He turned to look out the entrance for the first time, taking in the view.  “Sometimes we don’t know what we really want.  Sometimes we think we’re in love with someone but really we just thought they were a really cool friend, and other times. . . “

“Other times re realize our enemies are the ones we like the most.”  She smiled as she turned to see the view herself.

“So what happens now?”  Dipper asked.

She couldn’t think of an answer straight away.  She thought about keeping this hidden, like Gideon and Candy do, but then she realized that they aren’t keeping it that hidden since she knew and she doesn’t really know the two of them that well anyway.  She pondered if she would be sent away what would happen but couldn’t come up with an answer.

“I guess we just see where it goes from here and whatever happens, happens.”  Was the reply Pacifica came up with as she let her head fall on Dipper’s shoulder.

“Alright then.”  He replied.

 

Just above the two, on the top of the root alcove a person turned and walked away.  Reaching about 100 feet away the person spotted another person leaning against a tree.

“So, what did I tell you?  Sometimes you have to stop and listen to their hearts to hear what they really have to say.”

Preston turned to Sherman who pushed himself off the tree.  He scowled at the old man.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sherman nodded.  “Right. . .”

Preston turned and started walking again.  “If you see my daughter please tell her I will be awaiting her at our manor.”

Sherman smiled.  “Will do.”  After a few feet further Sherman’s smile vanished as he started to chase the younger man.  “Hey wait, that’s my only umbrella, give it back!”

 

Sherman returned to the shack, umbrella in hand, to be greeted by four drenched teens on the porch.  Waving to them as he approached he met them at the stair.

“What happened to all of you?”  Sherman asked.

“We got caught in the storm and had to come back here.”  Mabel replied.

“Oof, that sounds rough.  Did you happen to find the young lady you were looking for?”

“No, we all came back empty handed.  Figured we would wait a little and go out and try. . . try. . . acho!” Mabel sneezed right into Sherman’s chest.  Sherman laughed and wiped the snot off his sweater.

“Oh boy, sounds like you guys could use a drying off.  Wait out here and I’ll get some towels.  We’ll dry off and go out for another look.”  He said as he reached for the door knob.

The others nodded and shivered as the post rain cool air was starting to roll in.  Sherman popped open the door and went inside, closing it behind him.

At the edge of the woods, just out of sight, stood Dipper and Pacifica looking on at their friends awaiting their return.  Dipper turned to Pacifica and asked her one last time.

“Are you sure you’re ready?”  He asked concerned.

Pacifica steeled herself and took Dippers hand, looking him in the eye one more time and giving a quick peck on the cheek.

“Yea, I’m ready.”

The two slowly started walking from the forest’s edge into the yard behind the shack.  Within seconds Mabel had noticed the two and shouted to them.  The group began to run to them with Mabel leading.  Reaching about ten feet away Mabel noticed the connection between the two, stopping like a freight train with the others running into her from behind.

“ _WHAAAAAT_!” She shouted.  “NO WAY!”

She pointed to the interlocked hands as both Dipper and Pacifica blushed and looked away.  The others recovering from their collision and noticing what she was pointing at began to chime in.

“Whoa dude, that’s awesome!” Wendy smiled.

“Oh my stars” Gideon quipped as he covered his mouth in shock.

“I can’t believe it.”  Candy added.

“Bro-bro, is it true?  Are you and Pacifica…?”  She waved her hands to indicate they were together.

“Well. . . “ Dipper started, trying to explain only to be cut off by Pacifica.

“Yes, I have claimed Dipper for myself.  If anyone has any problems with that I’ll sue them penniless.”  Pacifica said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Mabel’s eyes widened in amazement.  “TELL ME MORE!  All the details, and don’t leave out anything!”

The others began to gather around waiting for the juicy details, the cold no longer bothering them.

 

Stan scratched his side as he sat on the edge of his bed having just woken up from his extended sleep.  More and more places get that itch as you get older, good think he still has old Scratchy with him.  Ford was, of course, fully engrossed in his machine, which was now going nuts with data and readouts. 

“None of this can be right!  All of this data can’t be real or I would have seen it earlier.”  Ford exclaimed.

“What’s the matter?  Is that thing broken again?”  Stan asked, not really caring.

“No, that’s the thing.  I’ve checked and double checked it.  Everything is in working order.  These readings are real, I’m sure of it.”

Stan stood and walked over.  He knew he was about to get inundated in a bunch of nerd talk again but for his brother’s sake he might as well feign interest.

“So what does it tell you?”

Ford pauses and adjusted some settings.  This put a map of the world on display.

“It tells me that an anomaly much like my portal has been created somewhere in the world; one that, if left alone, could cause the destruction of our entire universe.”

“Huh, sounds bad.”  Stan was now slightly interested.  Considering they had been finding and closing these anomalies all year for Ford to be freaking out over one now meant that it was serious.  Stan mentally prepared himself to be ready to leave.  “So where is it?”

Ford adjusted the controls more, the map zooming in again and again until it landed on middle Oregon, a single dot on the map blinking.  Ford leaned back in his chair.

“Stanley, I can’t believe this.”

“What? What is it?”

“It’s coming; it’s coming from Gravity Falls!”

 

* * *

  

Having heard enough of the conversation I turned away as stealthy as I could and re-entered the elevator.

Upon reaching the first floor I checked if anyone was in the gift shop.  Satisfied that there wasn’t I opened the vending machine and slipped out.  Entering the family room I grabbed my bag laying near the recliner and opened it up, pulling the journal from it.

Quickly flipping to a page I needed I walked over to the phone and dialed the number, replacing the journal in the bag.  I waited impatiently as the phone rang until finally someone picked up. 

“McGucket here, how can I help you?”

“Yea, it’s me.  They’re on to you.  You don’t have much time left.” 

“Hold on, I’ll tell him.”  There was a pause as I could hear speaking in the back ground.  “He says that he’s almost ready.  When he calls you go ahead and bring them.”

“Alright, I’ll be ready then.”

Hanging up I sighed, only to be started when someone spoke up behind me.

“Ready for what?”

I  turned to see Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Gideon, Pacifica, and Candy who must have entered the shack when I wasn’t looking.  Dipper was looking curious at me, having been the one who asked the question.

“Indeed, _I_ would like to know what you’re running out of time for.” 

Turning to the entryway into the gift shop I saw Stan and Ford.  Ford had his arms crossed, an angry look on his face.

I was busted.  All of the hidden things I’ve been doing and this is what I get caught with.  I gave a sigh.  I guess if we were about ready it was as good a time as any to come clean. 

“Grandpa Sherman?”  Mabel asked, a worried look on her face.  I could only smile at that.  This could be as good as my execution squad and that girl’s smile could make it all worth it.

I gave out one last sigh.

“Alright, I guess it’s time to tell you everything about why I came to Gravity Falls.”

  

* * *

  

The machine was churning and crackling with energy as the man in the dew rag and lab coat adjusted the settings.

“Just a little more and I’ll have isolated it.” He said out loud to no one.

He listened as the phone rang in the room behind him.  McGucket picked it up and spoke.

“McGucket here, how can I help you?”  He paused and listened to the person on the other end.  “Alright I’ll tell him.”

McGucket walked up to the man and tapped him on the shoulder.

“I think Ford is getting close to finding this place.” McGucket said.

The man nodded and adjusted another dial.  “I’ve got it!” He exclaimed and smiled.  Looking over at McGucket he nodded.  “It’s fine, we’re just about done here.  Tell him to get everyone ready to come over once I call him.”

McGucket nodded and returned to the phone, relaying the message.  Hanging up he returned to the man and stood beside him, looking on the machine before them. 

“It’s done.  The connection is established.  One I hit this button the countdown will begin.”

His finger hovered over the button for a moment and he smiled.  “Soon, very soon.”  Finally pressing the button both men looked up to the timer panel installed above the apparatus.

“Wait.  One second?”  The man questioned.  The timer began counting down.  “Fiddleford.  You installed that upside down didn’t you?”

“Uh, I reckon I did.” 

Both men realized that it was indeed installed upside down and counting down an upside down hour.  The man turned and placed his hand on Fiddleford’s shoulder.

“Are you sure you’re okay?  You’ve been quite off since I got here.”

“I’m sorry; I just don’t know what’s come over me.  Ever since you helped me get all of my memories back it’s been like this.” McGucket replied while walking over to a chair. 

The man joined him as they both watched the timer count again.

“Well I hope it isn’t going to be too bad.  If there’s anything I can do for you.”

“I’ll be fine.  I just need more time to sort out the things in my head.”

“I think time is the one thing we may not have on our side.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long with this. Life changes in my life too. Anyhow, with this done there is one left to go for the "season." I hope to have it done soon, but to be honest with all that goes on I can only guess it may come out by late July. That's fine though, it is the finale so I want it to be well written instead of rushed.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy and as always, comments are welcomed and appreciated.


	12. What ends begins again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherman tells his story, the reason he came to Gravity Falls, but the truth might not be what anyone expected.

When you get to be my age you start thinking about the end of your journey.  The life you’ve lived, the people you’ve met, and the experiences you had.  And then, when the end starts creeping up on you, it’s at that moment that you wish you could finally pass from this earth surrounded by your loved ones.

Well, at this very moment I felt like I wanted to die, and while they were my loved ones I’m not sure they loved me at the moment.

“Sherman, I know you were downstairs.  Who was that you just called?”  Ford’s gaze could have burned a hole through my chest.  Then again my heart might burst out any moment if I didn’t calm down anyway so he might not need to.  

I thought I was careful, that no one has noticed me but I guess I was wrong and now I was going to pay the price.  Everyone stood watching for my reaction, ready to pounce on my every word.

“Ford, I . . . “ I couldn’t find the words.  I had betrayed them, I had betrayed myself.  I had no choice.  “Fine, I’ll tell you everything.”   I slowly make my way over to the recliner.  I’m going to need a seat for this one, it’s a long story for sure.  “Everyone, pull up a seat.  I think it’s time I told you everything about why I came to Gravity Falls.”

 

* * *

 

The group didn’t move as Sherman took his seat, most of them were still confused as to what was going on.  Ford seemed angry at something and the room felt that but nobody but him seemed to know why.  Mabel was the first to do anything, running over to her grandpa and jumping on the chair with him.  She made herself comfortable and looked at everyone else.

“What are you guys waiting for?”  She asked excitedly, know a story was coming.  Mabel was always the one to listen to Grandpa Sherman stories with full enthusiasm in the past, even when they were always “old man” stories that bored everyone else.

Stan shrugged and grabbed the chair at the table, pointing at the other for Ford who gave him a confused look.  Wendy quickly retreated into the kitchen, returning with the three chairs from there which she, Candy, and Gideon took.  Pacifica and Dipper took their place on the skull that was often times used as an end table.

Sherman waited until he was sure they were all comfortable, checking each one in turn to make sure they were ready.  Assured he was he began.

“I guess this all began, oh, some forty years ago.  Back home in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey.”  He stopped a moment to let his memories coalesce.  “Living at home with my parents was fun, especially when you combine it with being the older brother of two very different twins.  Ford was the smartest guys I knew, and Stan, well let’s just say even I didn’t think I could take him a fight and I was on the football team.”

Sherman could remember that part of his life like it was just last week.  He was the star player on the team, well the defense at least.  He could take out a quarterback like it was a toddler.  “Dad had high hopes that I would become some famous football player in my time, but me?  Well I knew that wasn’t what I was destined to do.” 

A quick glance allowed him to garner the attention levels of everyone in the room.  Most of his guests were listening intently but Ford, Ford looked angry.

“When I graduated from high school I had a few scholarships that could have made me a football player but most of those were to schools that I wouldn’t learn anything from.  I know I wasn’t the smartest person but I knew that was a dead end.  After passing on those I tried to get into schools on just my academic merits but. . . “ Sherman trailed off.

Sherman wasn’t dumb by any means, most days he pulled C’s under his own knowledge.  There were even a few B’s but most of those came when people were nice enough to tutor him on subjects he just didn’t understand.  “Well that was a no go.  Nobody wanted to give me a free ride unless I played for their football team and that wasn’t happening.  I tried to save up from my part time job to go to a local school but it just wasn’t enough and Pops didn’t have the money to cover for me.”

He remembered some of his jobs that he worked.  Carnival Barker, Street Vendor, heck he even tried to scrape the barnacles off the Taffy Boat.  Nothing paid well enough for him to go to school.  “So I figured if that was just going to be the case I should get a job.”

“What kind of job did you do?”  Mabel asked as she looked up in his eyes.  He had always told her stuff that happened more recently but he realized he didn’t really delve into the past because. . . well he realized she was bound to figure that out soon.

“Factory work, good honest labor.  It’s the kind of work that made men strong and robust.”  He flexed a little to try to show off his bicep.  Being as old as he was and having not worked for a few years it didn’t look as good as it could have but there was still some tone to it.  “Nothing beats working with your hands and getting dirty!”

He slowly lowered his arm as he remembered what happened next.   The company who owned the factory ended up selling it to another, and that company sold it again.  This went on for a while and each time the workers worried that they would replace the work force.  It took roughly a dozen new companies before this fear actually came true. Half of the jobs were outsourced overseas and the workforce was further reduced when machines started replacing workers.

“That happened for a while before things got complicated.  I was laid off.”  He saw the gleam in Mabel’s eye dim.

“Aww.  Why did they do that?”

He gave little smile.  “Well sometimes they just change how they do things.  It wasn’t all bad though, thanks to that I got a new job in a big steel mill in Ohio.  Oh, so much happened while I was up there!”

Ford stamped his foot loudly.  “Sherman!  What does any of this have to do with what’s going on?  None of this tells me what you were doing in the basement, why you were sneaking around!”  Ford stood, pushing his chair back as he slammed his hands on the table.  “Stop stalling!”

Sherman was shocked by his brother’s attitude, unable to respond.  Thankfully someone else did.

“Ford, sit down.”  Stan scowled at his brother with a glare that instantly cooled the hot head down.  Ford had no choice but to comply and promptly flopped back into his seat.  “Look, you’ve been gone for thirty years, why can’t you just take some time to let your brother catch you up on what he’s been doing.  It’s not like the couple of times we’ve talked was enough for you to figure out all of this.   It would be like me telling the kids about us and forgetting to mention the portal!”

While Sherman didn’t understand what he meant by that Ford did, and that was what was important.  He calmed down, leaning his head his arm, which he placed on the table.  “Fine, continue.  But if this takes much longer I _will_ have to take action.”

Sherman sighed with relief as he continued.

“Working in Ohio was nice.  The people were nice, the weather was bearable, oh and the mill had a lot of extra benefits too being union and all.”  He gave a long look at his brothers before continuing.  “It was while I was out there that I heard about what happened at home.

Almost everyone in the room barring Gideon and Candy knew what they meant.  The Science Fair -- The fight the twins had over Ford’s possible scholarship and the fact that Pops threw Stan out of the house after that. 

“I honestly thought it was stupid, I thought it wasn’t real.  When Ma told me I laughed and said that Stan could use a little time away to cool his jets but she told me that Pops was serious.   This had been Ford’s big chance and Stan blew it.  Pops, at least at the time, was adamant that he wouldn’t see his son again.

Sherman saw both of his brothers shirk over that.  He knew what the outcome of that was, thanks to their conversations.  It still hurt both of them deep down what they did to each other.  All he wanted was for that wound to heal, but he knew one that deep would take a while longer. 

“I called Stan a few days later.  He told me his side of the story, about the fact that it was an accident, that he didn’t mean it.  I knew it hurt him, not being thrown out but that he hurt you.  I offered him my apartment, said he could stay as long as he like.  Even offered to get him a job at the mill as long as he carpooled a few times.  But you know what, he declined.  Stan, you didn’t even give it a second thought.  Your pride over the fact that you weren’t at fault make you give up what could have been a second chance.”

Stan rubbed the back of his neck and drooped.  “Yea, I should have listened to you, should have taken you up on your offer.   I was dumb, I admit it.”

“No Stan, you were young.  We make a lot of little mistakes when we are younger than when we are older, trust me, I know.”

He took a deep breath.  The next part was the beginning of something that he had, in his own way, avoided for a while.

“Well, about a year later was when I met my future wife.”

 

* * *

 

Wendy came back from the attic and passed out some drinks to everyone.  Pacifica smirked at Wendy as she handed her a glass.  Wendy quickly shot back a glare that caused the younger girl to look away and whistle.  Sherman took one of the glasses and took a sip and nearly spit the contents out.

“What _is_ this?”  He asked as he looked at the funny red liquid in the glass.  He was fairly certain he saw a few plastic parts floating around the mix but he couldn’t be certain.

“Oh that’s just Mabel’s special drink.  She calls it Mabel Juice.”  Wendy answered as she finished pass out the drinks.  Both of the Stans stopped short of taking a drink and placed the glasses back on the counter with a quick glance to each other.  Quietly they slid them across the table, out of reach.

“Well, that was . . . different.”  Sherman finally got out, looking at Mabel with a fake smile on his face.  Her eyes were wide and her smile big at the compliment.  “Anyway, where were we?”

“You were about to tell us about Grandma.”  Mabel excitedly gabbed.  “What was she like?”

The smile on Sherman’s face faded just slightly.  “Your Grandma was the most amazing woman I’d ever met.  She was simply the most beautiful and her wit was just as sharp as the sharpest knife.”  Sherman paused and gulped, the smile momentarily fading from his face. 

 “So seeing this goddess before me I married her after just a few short years.”  He looked over to Ford. “It wasn’t long before I heard that my little brother had graduated from school, with several degrees no less.”

Ford snorting laugh at the compliment, at least that’s what it sounded like.  The room stared at him a second before breaking out in laughter.  Finally calming down Sherman continued.

“Well, after finding out my brother moved to this little town out in Oregon I decided to take a visit.  My wife would have come but she wanted to see some family in Indiana so we took the time to go our separate ways.  That was the last time I think I actually saw you Ford.”

Ford pondered it for a moment.  “I remember that... I’d barely settled in when you got here.”  He chuckled as he thought of something.  “I hadn’t even set up a lab yet.”

This time it was Sherman’s turn to chuckle.  “Hadn’t even set up a lab?  As I recall I had to sleep in the storage room with your weird experiments because you didn’t have the space for me!”

Ford blushed as he realized that Sherman was probably speaking the truth.  “Err, I’m sorry.  I would have set up more accommodations if I had more time.”

Sherman waved him off.  “It’s fine, not like we didn’t have a good time catching up anyway.  That was, after all the last time I saw you until last month.”

“Anyway, it was a quiet few years living with my wife and working until. . . “ Sherman put up a stoic face.  “It came out of the blue, the call from Ma.  When she told me what happened I dropped the receiver.”

Most of the room gave him confused looks but Sherman’s gaze was on the one person who didn’t.  Stan turned his gaze away from his brother, he couldn’t look into his eyes right now.

“Ma told me that Stan had died.  Ten years without a word and we hear he died in an accident.  She told me they confirmed his dental records due to his teeth being the only evidence not burned up in the fire.”  Sherman paused, letting the room look to the culprit.  “Stanley, how could you do that to us?  How could you lie about what happened like that?”

Stan’s gaze could only relay that he knew the answer.  “I know it was a bad plan, okay?  I had to steal a body from the morgue so they would have a real body!  I had to rip out all of my teeth so they would be able to know it was me.  Do you know who much that hurt?”  He paused, his gaze becoming determined.  “But I _had_ to do it!  I was the only one who could bring Ford back, and if everyone knew that it was my fault he disappeared I would have lost that chance.”  He calmed a bit, lowering his gaze.  “I had to be the one that fixed this.”

No one spoke for a long time.  They knew he spoke the truth, that if he hadn’t hid who he was that they would have never been able to set up the events to bring Ford back.  No one wanted to contradict what Stan had said.  Finally the silence was broken when Sherman gave a loud sigh.

“I was there you know, at your funeral.  Pity you weren’t, you would have realized something.”  Stan gave him a questioning look.  “Ma cried her tears till she was dry but Pops, Pops just stay as stoic as ever.  It wouldn’t be until a little after the viewing that Pops and I had a chance to step away.”

Sherman waited for the memories to all come back, he wanted to recall this completely.  “Pops and I went to a side room.  He locked the door and walked over to me, then he place his hand on my shoulder and do you know what he did next?”

Both brothers shook their head, they both expected to hear some hardboiled allegory from their father.  Sherman would shock them.

“He fell to his knees and cried.”

Ford gave an audiable gasp.  Stan’s jaw went completely slack.  Dipper and Mabel looked to each other wide eyed.

 “Never in my life have I seen that man shed a tear yet at that very moment he was giving Ma a run for her money.”  He paused to let that sink in.  Ford and Stan too had never seen their father as anything but a pillar of hardness.  “He said that on this day he had lost two sons.  One in the accident and the other who didn’t care about his brother enough to come see him off.”

Stan and Ford were shocked.  Neither had been aware that Ford had been blamed for not coming to the funeral, obvious reasons for such aside.

“After that day he never spoke of it again, and as far as I know from Ma he never shed another tear in his life.”

Sherman waited a moment to feel the mood.  He realized the talk of the funeral had brought everyone down in what should have been a happy time, then again he hadn’t told them why they should be happy about yet.  Putting on a smile he began to recount the beginning of his family life.

“It wasn’t all doom and gloom though.  When I got back my wife told me some news I hadn’t been expecting.  Or at least she gave me news that she was expecting!”

Mabel squealed as she threw her arms up in excitement.  “A BABY!”

Sherman’s smirk widened. “Yup, that’s right!  When one life ends another will begin, or so the saying goes.”  He looked down at Mabel and then over at Dipper. “Can you guess who that was?”

“DAD!” The twins shouted in unison.

“No, it was your uncle Steve, but we don’t talk about him.”  He waited a moment for the confusion to coalesce on his grandchildren. 

“Uncle Steve?  Who, who was that?”  Dipper asked with a panicked look on his face.

Sherman glutorall laugh caused the confusion in Dipper to grow deeper.  “I’m just kidding, it was your dad.”  A quick glance saw that Dipper was relieved that he wasn’t missing another relative.  Being born less than a year after Stan “died” gave Sherman the hope he had needed to continue, though he didn’t want to admit he had lost it to begin with.

“Oh, your dad was a rambunctious one.  Always trying to explore new places.”  He reached out and ruffled his grandchildren’s hair. “I know where the two of you got it from.  Ah we would always find him the weirdest places doing the weirdest things.  One day it might be exploring the old mine just out of town and the next it was trying to prove the best color for the old schoolhouse was anything but the pale red it was.”

Sherman leaned back and let the memories of his son wash over him.  If he could he would make those days last forever, they were truly his happiest.

“Well when your dad grew up he ended up joining the tech sector and moved out to California.   Guess who he met there?”

“Auntie Petunia?”  Mabel asked.  Sherman was confused, he didn’t know a Petunia.  “But we don’t talk about her!”

Sherman gave out a hearty laugh, having been hoisted by his own petard.  “Clever girl, learns from the best she does!”  Taking a deep breath he calmed himself.  “He met your mother.  They got married in a tiny little ceremony by the beach.  It was nice, but a little small for my wife’s taste.”

“So after a few years we got word that something might be amiss in their lives.  Your parents tried their best to hide it but nobody could hide anything from my wife.  She found out the two of you were on your way.  The next month we flew out to see our expecting kids.”

Sherman smile started to lose its luster.  His chest felt heavy and all he could do to relieve it was to squeeze harder on the chairs arm rests.  He was about to the hardest part of the story, the part that hurt him in the deepest places.  He almost didn’t want to continue but for the sake of the future he knew he must.

It was hard to talk about his wife, let alone what happened to her.  He never really got over it and in all his years with his grandkids he never really brought her up if he could avoid it.  He told Stan and Ford what happened but only the small details.  He wondered if he told them the whole story that it would help him get over it.  _I guess we’ll find out,_ he decided and continued on with the story.

“The flight home itself was fine, nothing out of the ordinary.  When we landed we started walking to the baggage claim to get our things.”  Sherman stopped.  He didn’t want to continue.  He fought hard to hold back the tears.  He tried to press forward.  “We… she fell.  I thought she had tripped but then she couldn’t get up.  I called for help, I didn’t know what to do.”

The room became deathly still.

“We saw doctors, a lot of doctors.  I think we saw almost every doctor from New Jersey to California.  None of them could fix her.”  Sherman looked down at the palms of his hands.  The frail old hands that once held all of his hopes and dreams together, now empty.  “She fought so hard.  She wanted to see her grandchildren so badly.  She made it, but just barely.  The day she held the two of you in her hands was the day we both knew that the end was near.  It wasn’t even a fortnight later that she passed.” 

Sherman could no longer hold himself back.  He cried, his head falling in his hands.  While he couldn’t see it there wasn’t another person in the room who wasn’t shedding tears of sorrow.  Sherman cried like the very day she passed, her memories only stoking more grief out of him.  Mabel hugged him, her own tears flowing as she buried her head in his side.  Dipper reached over and placed his hand on his grandfather’s shoulder, hoping it would comfort him as he held back his own tears. 

Ford and Sherman bowed their heads, having heard a little of her fate before as the rest of the room waited for him to recover.  Finally drying his eyes and taking a big snort to clear his nose he began again.

“Not long after that I, I had thoughts in my head.  Bad ones.  I had to take my mind off things the only way I knew how.  I probably did the dumbest thing possible, or maybe the smartest, I don’t know.”  He took another deep breath.  “I moved back to Glass Shard Beach and I decided that I would take care of my parents.”

“So basically you retired to live with your parents?” Wendy asked.

Sherman chuckled as he realized the allegory was correct.  “Yea, I suppose I did.  Although I guess that that point you could call it them moving in with me at a new place nearby.”  Sherman ran his hands through his hair.  “It wasn’t long before I was all alone there too.”

Mabel hugged him tight again, unsure if he was going to lose himself again.  Sherman did feel bad about their passing but since they had lived fulfilling lives he was able to retain himself better.

“I stayed in the city for a while, made a few friends, did a few odd jobs here and there.  It was fine for a while.  The thing about getting old is that you may make friends your age but you don’t know how long _they_ are going to stick around.  Over time my circle got smaller and smaller.  I guess your parents noticed and they got worried.”

“They had me carted across the country to live in Piedmont with them.  Truth be told, it wasn’t bad.  The community they had me at was near their house and I was free to come and go on my own so it was like living a community of friends.”

“The people were nice, the food was . . . well it wasn’t five stars so I tended to cook on my own.  I even kept up with some of pals on the east coast through letters.  I was having a gay old time living out my golden years.  For a while I thought everything would be alright!”

Sherman paused one last time.  It was finally time to get to the real reason he started this, the stalling was over.  It was time to tell them the truth.  He gathered himself one last time before be broke into this new territory.

“It was that way for a while, then, that letter arrived.”

 

* * *

 

Everyone was chomping on the snacks that Dipper had brought in from the kitchen.  Jerky for the Stans, Popcorn for Wendy, Gideon, and Candy, Mabel had a Popsicle, and Dipper and Pacifica were sharing a bowl of pistachios.  Sherman took a bite of Jerky given to him by Stan and savored the flavor.  Swallowing he began the final leg of his journey.

“Where was I?  Oh right, the letters.  So I told you how I sometimes got letters from old friends on the other coast right?  Well occasionally they would have new people send letters, you know, the new retirees.  We kept the group one big happy extended family.”

“The thing was the letters usually all arrive on the same day.  This letter on the other hand came on an off day.  This one was addressed to me but had no return address.”

“Wait, a letter with no return address?” Dipper inquired.  “That’s just like me!  What did it say?”

Pausing to try to recall the exact wording Sherman closed his eyes and envisioned holding the letter in his hand.  Ready to give it a shot he began to recite the words.

“Dear Mr. Pines.  I hope this letter finds you well.  I am an old friend of yours who you know, though we have never directly met.  I hope to contact you again in the future.  Signed.”  Sherman paused as everyone leaned in.  “Well whoever it was didn’t sign it.”

The group fell forward at the misstep. 

Ford slapped his face with his palm.  “Why would someone not sign it?”

“Sorry guys, I mean were old so we forget to do things sometimes.”  Sherman laughed as everyone recovered.  He quickly changed his tone to one more serious.  “Or at least that’s what I thought at the time.”

As everyone finally recovered Sherman continued.  “A while later I ended up getting the second letter.  This one was a bit more . . . disturbing.  Honestly there was way more info in the letter than any pen pal of mine should know, including stuff about my wife.  I told no one about how she died but this person knew.   I was confused and a little bit angry but then I thought, what if I had told someone and they ended up telling this person.  There were, after all, moments when I was too grief stricken to hold anything back.”

“It wasn’t until the third letter that I really became concerned.  This letter once again sent me greetings from afar, and again tried to establish that this person was a friend but then it started rambling about something I knew I hadn’t told anyone about.  It knew about both of you.”  Sherman pointed to the Stans who looked at him concern.  “It told me that I would be seeing both of you soon.”

“I thought this person was mad.  There was no way that would happen.  For all I knew one of my brothers was dead and the other was a loon hiding out in the woods in Oregon.  All I could come up with was this was some sort of death threat, oh how my concern would play out . . . “

“When did you get these letters?”  Ford asked, still concerned.

Sherman took a moment to think about it.  “Let’s see.  The first was about a year and half ago, the second not long after.  The third was a month before Dipper and Mabel would go out to see Stan and the fourth . . .”

“There was a fourth?!” Ford added with alarm, his eyes widening.

“Yea, that one came the day the twins left for Gravity Falls.” 

Sherman had to stop to think about this one.  This was the one that set him off into a panic.  He thought his family had been in danger and yet, he realized, there was little he could have done to stop it.

“The last one talked about how Dipper and Mabel had just gone off to Gravity Falls to live with Stanley for the summer.  The letter said that the person wouldn’t be able to contact me for a while as they had to make sure everything went as planned so their vision of the future came out right.  It was madness.  First, why would the kids be in Gravity Falls?  Their parents hadn’t told me anything!”

Sherman bunched up his fist getting angry as he continued. “Second, Stanley?  Stanley was dead.  If this person intended to harm my grandchildren I was going to go up there myself and fight whoever it was, but first I needed to know if there was truth behind what the letter said.”

Sherman took a quick glance at the phone as if confirming there was one there. 

“I called my son and had him explain what this was all about.  He didn’t know much about the coming back part but he did admit he and his wife had sent the children up to live with Stanford for the summer.  I was still worried but know that the letter was wrong gave me a little hope that this was all some sick joke.  I still asked that he call the two of you back but my son can be as stubborn as I am.  He said there was no reason for it.  So the deal was set, I only had to wait out the summer to see if you two were alright.  The day you two got back I met you at the door.”

“I remember that!”  Mabel shouted.  “We were so happy to see you!  We were so tired from the bus trip so we didn’t talk much though.” She frowned as she recounted the need to go straight to bed.

“Yea, you were still there the next day.  Was it all because of that letter?”  Dipper asked.

“Right you are.  I was still worried as to what happened.”  Sherman recalled the conversations over breakfast, the twins telling him all sorts of stories with their parents laughing them off as childish gimmicks.  Sherman on the other hand had a different appreciation for one in particular.  “When you got to the part about Ford coming back through the portal my heart skipped a beat.”

“Literally everything in that letter had now been confirmed, all of the events had fallen into this mysterious persons weird order.  It wasn’t but three days later that I received another letter.  The letter was short, I could tell it was written in haste.  The person said that they were happy it all worked out like it did and they would contact me again before the next summer but for now they had something they had to take care of.”

“So did they ever send another one?”  Dipper asked.

Sherman nodded.  “Yea, in April of this year.  This time instead of a letter though . . . “  He paused and closed his eyes.  This was it, he was about to get asked the question he didn’t want to answer.  In fact he wasn’t even sure himself he could answer it, even now.  “It was a location and a time.  It was time to meet my mysterious benefactor.”

“Who was it?!” Ford asked as he quickly stood, eyes wide, ready to hear the end.  Of all the people to get hooked in the story Sherman would have thought Ford to be the last but then again he _did_ like all of those mystery novels.

“Sit down Ford, he’s getting to that.”  Stan rolled his eyes at his brother’s outburst.  Ford realized what he had done and sat down quickly.

“Ahem, go head please.”  Ford motioned for Sherman to continue.  All eyes were now glued to him as they waited for the answer they had all been seeking.  It was a pity they would, again, be left short.

“Well . . .  I can’t tell you.”

“What, why?!” Ford asked.

“I’m sorry.” Sherman sighed.  “He asked me not to tell anyone, especially you Ford.  Not yet at least.  But I will say this, I did meet the person and I finally understood.  Not everything mind you, but enough to know that I trust this person.”

“Why me?” Ford asked.

“I don’t know.  Beyond that we ended up talking about three things when we met.  First was that I had to convince my son and daughter-in-law to send the kids back to Gravity Falls again this summer.  It wasn’t easy, they had heard more details of what happened and weren’t happy with it.”  Sherman looked at his grandkids again.  They were hanging on to every word he said.

“Secondly he gave me a package and letter he wanted to give them before they left.”  He saw Dipper come to the realization of what that was.

“The Journal!  He gave you the journal?!”  Sherman smiled at the boy.

“I think so.   To me it was just a package that I left on your bed along with a letter addressed to the two of you.  It took me some effort to sneak that in past your parents without getting caught but I pulled it off.  Still spry in my old age!”  He flexed his arms as his whole body cracked at the joints.  Candy laughed and Gideon rolled his eyes as Sherman held still, unable to move for fear of creaking again.

The rest of the group joined the laughter as he attempted to act nonchalantly.  Sherman took a deep breath as to the third thing.

Laughter dying down Stan asked as question.  “I don’t get it, if he gave them that stuff why are _you_ here?”

“And why give Dipper a journal?  What purpose does it serve?”  Ford asked.

Sherman nodded.  “Honestly Ford I didn’t know about the journal Dipper got until just a little while ago.”  He paused and sighed.  “But as to why I’m here… Mabel, would mind being a dear and grabbing me my bag from the table?”

Mabel nodded excitedly and scooted off the chair, running over to the table and grabbed Sherman’s shoulder bag.  Handing it to him she stood waiting in front of the chair.

“The final thing was for me to come to Gravity Fall on a permanent basis and help him with a little project of his.  To that end he gave me something.”  Sherman opened the bag.  After a second of digging around he produced another journal.

“Another Journal?” Mabel asked as she cocked her head.

Sherman held up the book, this one similar to the one Dipper had but labeled with a 5 on the cover, same Six fingered hand covered by a regular hand.

“Yup.” He replied as he started to flip through the pages.  “We’ve been collecting things for a few weeks now, all for this guy’s project.”  Sherman flipped past pages showing different components, including the time tape, several glowing doodads, and even some portal parts.  

“Hold on.” Dipper says suddenly.  “Go back a page.

Sherman flips back to the spine and stops. Dipper quickly pulls out his journal and opens it to the same page.  Holding the pages closely and comparing Dipper realizes the sizes are slightly different but similar none the less.  It seems the prints come from four different people.

Ford have walked over to get a closer look begins flipping through the pages, each one the ridge on his forehead deepening.

“The guy told me that I needed to collect as much from that as I could.  I’ve been going around doing just that since I got here.”

“Sherman, this is some serious stuff.  What were you doing with all of this?  I could think of a million different things that could be built from all of this and none of it good!”

“I have no idea, I’ve just been the gopher.  Anyway, we finished collecting all of it not long ago and I think whatever that guy is doing is what your tracker thingy is picking up.”  As Sherman looked back at Ford the reason for his original anger and haste finally returned to him.

“Right, the signal!” Ford exclaimed, the look on his face told Sherman he was now more worried than before. “Sherman you have to take us to it now!  If we delay any longer it may be too late.”

“I can’t, not until he’s . . .”

The sound, so unexpected it shocked the group into silence, rang out.  Moments passed until the phone finally went to voice mail.  The message machine sitting next to it began to play.

“Oh, Dude, this is awesome.  We’ve got an old timey voice recorder machine hooked up to this!” Soos’s recorded voice came out of it. 

In the background of the recording Melody called out.  “Soos don’t forget to tell them to leave a message!” 

Soos’ voice came back. “Oh right!  Leave a message for us, dawg!  Soos out!”

_Beep_

 “Sherman, I know you can hear me.  He says he’s ready.”

Ford’s Jaw dropped, he knew that voice.  It was one that he had not heard in ages yet one he was keenly familiar with. 

“You need to bring um all down here now.  We’re about to begin I reckon.”  Fiddleford’s voice came over the speaker, but not Old Man McGucket’s voice that most of the room had come to love but the voice of Fiddleford Hadron McGucket that Ford new from his early days in Gravity Falls.

Silence fell as the recording ended.  Everyone stood still for moment, unsure of what to do next.  Finally Sherman pressed down on the arms of the recliner and stood up.

“I guess it really is time.  Well we better not keep him waiting.”  Sherman waited for everyone to break from their stupor.  “I’ll take you there but . . . “ He counted the people present. “We’ll need a few cars.”

Ford stomped. “Absolutely not!  We are not taking the children with us.  You and I are going up there and stopping this madness before someone gets hurt!”

“Yea, I think I’m with Ford on this one.  Now that I’ve heard everything this seems kinda sketchy.”  Stan added.

“But, the… “

“HEY!” Mabel shouted as she threw her arms to her hips.  “You heard the message!  He said all of us!”

Shocked at his sister’s enthusiasm but himself wanting to see what this was Dipper joined his sister.  “Yea, this involves all of us now!  We all deserve to find out what’s going on.”

Ford looked to the other children, each giving him a nod of agreement.  He was outnumbered on this but he wasn’t ready to just put everyone in danger.

“Fine.  Sherman, you, Stan, and I will go in one car.  For the other…”  He thought about it.

“I can take everyone.”  Wendy spoke up.  “The back of my trucks got enough room for everyone.”

Resigned that this was happening Ford moved to the back door.  “Alright then.”  He turned as he grabbed his coat. “But Sherman, this isn’t over.  We’ll talk more on the way.”

At least that was the idea.  Most of the trip was Sherman giving simple instructions.  Only when they turned down a country road did Ford finally speak up.

“Why didn’t you tell me all of this?”  He finally asked.  Sherman waited a moment before answering from the back seat.

“Ford, to be honest, I really didn’t know if I could.  This person was extremely cautious about you specifically.  It was like they feared you or something, like you had history.   For all I knew you could have been a different person than the Stanford I knew.  I know it’s not right to keep secrets from family but can you ever forgive me?”

Ford though long and hard about it.  He wasn’t sure himself.  Secrets seemed to run in his family quite often and this one might have been the deepest and most dangerous one.  He looked at Stan who switch on his headlights as night began to fall.  Ford sighed.

“Fine, fine. Yes.  But only if you can guarantee there are no more secrets between us anymore.”

Sherman’s eye twitched.  He quickly looked back to Wendy’s truck following them.

Sherman coughed.  “Well, if I need to tell you all of my secrets there’s actually _one_ more I have.”

“WHAT?!” Ford shouted causing Stan to adjust his hearing aid.

“Settle down, this one isn’t quite as big.  The thing is the real reason I agreed to come up here was . . .”

 

* * *

 

Wendy’s truck pulled up road toward the Northwest Manor. Pacifica looked over at Dipper and gave him a confused look. 

“Why are we going to my old place?” She asked through the back window.

Wendy shrugged.  “Beats me, I’m just following Stan.”

Dipper shook his head.  “I don’t get what’s going on at all.  Giving me a journal, sending weird letters, tearing out pages. Now there’s _another_ journal that has a bunch of parts for who knows what and someone got my grandpa do collect things for it!”

“Plus giving that cryptid hunter a page!”  Mabel reminded him from the cab.

“Argh!  Why can’t we have a normal summer?”  Dipper exclaimed.

“Would you really have it any other way?” Gideon asked as he sat across the bed from Dipper.

Finally pulling up the drive and past the gate they in front of the massive double doors, the N and W still engraved on them.  Dismounting from the pickup and joining the older men Sherman knocked on the doors.  Fiddleford, now shaven and standing upright, opened the door.  He quickly glanced around to see who came, jumping back when he saw Ford.

Ford blinked “ _Fiddelford_?”

“Eh, sorry Ford. I didn’t mean to keep this secret from you.  It’s just that . . .”

Ford cut him off. “It’s fine.  Just take us to whatever is causing these readings.”  He held up a printout  of the reading he was getting earlier.

Nodding sadly Fiddleford motioned for everyone to follow him. As they walked through the house.  As they walked Ford couldn’t help but ask a burning question.

“How long have you…”

“A while.  I would have told you but…  You wouldn’t have understood.”

Ford didn’t know what to say.  The last he saw of his old comrade was almost a year ago during the fight against Bill.  He thought they reconciled but he quickly realized that if it took him this long to get on even terms with his brother that it might have been the case.

Fiddleford stopped before the large double doors of the grand ballroom.  Sherman walked up and stood by Dipper..

“Dipper, can I get your journal from you for a moment?”

Dipper looks up and nods, handing over his journal.   Sherman takes it and stands next to Fiddleford.

“When you go in I ask one thing.” Sherman starts.  “Please, please keep an open mind about this.  I may not understand all of it but I know deep down how important it is that what happens, happens.”

A few nod.  Ford narrows his eyes, unsure of what his brother meant.  The two men turned and with great effort opened the massive doors.  As everyone stepped in to the grand ballroom it was not set up for a party as one might have wanted but set up nearly entirely with a massive amount of machinery.  The tubes, pipes, and cables lined the room streaming energy to the other side of the room. 

 As Sherman enters he takes his journal out and walks over to a table near the center of the room and places them with a third journal.  He opens all three to the spine pages revealing all three have a pair of handprints.  

As he does this Ford begins to scan the room for some insight on what this machine is.  Following the cables to the aperture at the end of the room and putting together what he saw from the journal he realizes what this is all designed to do.  Panic shoots across his face as the he notices the roughly adult man in a lab coat, goggles, and dew rag standing near a panel, a timer nearby him with less than two minutes left.

The man watches as the other enter the room, briefly nodding at Sherman as he places the journal.  His gaze falling to the kids, his mouth gaping for a second then scrunching resolute.  Ford sees that man stands poised to flip what looks like the final switch to activate what he realizes is a large portal device, three or four times the size of his.

As the count nears zero Ford reaches for his magnet gun only to realize he forgot to bring it.  Panicking he breaks into a sprint in an attempt to stop the man from throwing the switch only to be blocked by Sherman.

“Ford, STOP!”  Sherman shouts as he tries grabs his brother and stops him from advancing.  “Please trust me, this is for the best!”

“No, don’t you understand, this thing could destroy all of reality!”

“Ford wait!  It’s not what you think it is!” Fiddleford shouts.

Sherman holds him firm, blocking his way.   Ford realizes he has no other choice and shoves his brother out of the way.  The old man hits the ground hard, grunting as he lands.  Ford quickly starts to move again only to find his way blocked by three new obstacles.

Stan, Dipper, and Mabel now stand in front of him blocking his only path to the console.

“What are you doing?  Have you all gone mad?  This portal is going to destroy everything if it isn’t stopped!”

“No, you listen up poindexter, I trust Sherman.  He never had to tell us any of this, he never had to bring us, but he did.  I trust him and so should you.”

“Trust!  What are you talking about!  You know the dangers of a portal, you know that it can rip our reality apart!  You know it was what caused Bill to get summoned and what nearly caused us to loose everything!  You of all people should understand why this _has to stop_!”

Stan stood, unmoving, unblinking in front of his brother.

“Are you all insane?  This could kill us all!  Please, I beg you MOVE!”

Stan opened his mouth to speak but was beaten to it by Dipper.

“No.”  Dipper said as he moved by his Great Uncle and blocked him.

“Yeah, that’s right, were not moving!  And you didn’t have to shove Grandpa Sherman too!”  Mabel says as she helps her Grandfather back up.

Ford looked over Stan’s shoulder at the timer again.  Less than 30 seconds remained.  Ford no longer had a choice he would have to force his way through.  He pulled back ready to punch his younger brother to get him out of his way.

What he wasn’t expecting was for Stan to do something he hadn’t in a long time.  Ford’s wind up would only take him a second but for Stan it was a fraction of that.  The pain in the right part of his chin was immense.  His mind instantly registered what had happened.  Stan had hit him with a left hook, the only boxing move that Ford knew he wouldn’t use unless he serious meant to hurt someone.

Taking a few steps back to recover Ford’s eyes widened at the frame of his younger brother.  He didn’t think Stan still had it in him.  He was proven wrong.  Returning to his stance Stan just stared at him, words no longer needed between the brothers.

Dipper spoke, his calm tone trying to reach Ford. “Grunkle Ford, please trust us.  Last year I lost my trust in someone close to me and thanks to that I nearly lost someone else who is extremely dear to me.  It took me a lot to admit that if I hadn’t they would be gone.”

Ford looked at Dipper confused.  “What, who?”

Dipper looked deep into his eyes. “You.  If Mabel hadn’t trusted Grunkle Stan we would have never met you.  We would have never gone on any adventures.  We would have never been able to beat Bill!”

Ford realized it finally.  This is why Stan wasn’t reacting with suspense or fear.  He _knew_ what Sherman was going through.  Ford still had no idea who this person behind them was nor if this portal would rip the very fabric of time but Stan did.  He knew in his brother’s heart he had decided to put his trust in family, something he would’ve had trouble doing himself.

Ford past them.  The timer had hit zero but the figure stood still, watching the outcome of argument.  _He’s waiting for me to decide_ , Ford realized.  The figure could have thrown the switch at any time but he was waiting.  Ford finally let his arms drop.

“Fine, I trust you.”

The figure, having waited now pulls the lever.  The portal begins to wind up and the gateway begins to swirl.  Everyone gathers together to watch what happened next, the unknown standing in front of them.  As the portal reached its peak a bright flash of light fills the room causing everyone to shield their eyes.  Once it died down they saw the portal has connected to somewhere, somewhere different.

The portal was open.

What they see through the portal is a hellish landscape full of destruction and carnage.  On the other side five figures, one child and four adults, covered in robes stand begin walking to the opening, their robes flapping as reddish dust flies around them.  As the figures enter the room Dipper and Mabel find themselves shocked as they recognize one of them.  The smallest of them looks like the girl them met when they went to the past but a bit older. 

As the final figure steps through the portal the man in the lab coat flips the switch again and the portal closes.  The machine begins to grind as it powers down. The man wearing the lab coat joins the others as they stand around the table, each placing their hand momentarily on the journal, confirming their involvement.  As the room begins return to normal the remaining figures being to remove their robes. 

As they do the whole room fills with shock at whom they are seeing.

  

* * *

 

The air flow in the room rustled the tufts of hair on my head not covered by my headwear.  The gasps of everyone at who was finally standing before us were even audible over the machine grinding down.

Sherman walked away from the group to the center of the room. He cleared his throat and prepared to introduce us.

“I’m sorry I had to hide all of this from you for so long but allow me to introduce you.”  He says.

Mabel reaches over and grabs my hand, squeezing it to confirm she’s really seeing what she is seeing.  I squeeze back to comfort her and confirm that she is.  I let a little smile cross my face.

“Bro” She whispers.  I can see the mix of fear and relief in her eyes.

A quick glance over tells me my other companions are in similar situations.  Wendy is standing stoic but I can tell she is on edge.  Pacifica is on guard, not sure what to make of this.  On my other side Gideon is at the ready in case anything happens, protecting the one who is standing behind him.

“Everyone, I want you to meet the authors of the journals.”

I reach up and remove my dew rag and goggles as Sherman motions over to us.  The air blows my hair around, everyone gasping as they see the birthmark on my forehead.

“Yourselves.” He finishes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Journal 6 Excerpt: May 25, 2018 – Schools out today!  Mabel and I are finally going back to Gravity falls after six years!  This is going to be a summer that we’ll never forget!

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOT! First half of this season done! Big thanks to Redwood for reviewing the chapter for me and giving a few suggestions to flesh it out (and shorten it).
> 
> Normally I write in 3 (Plus opening monologue, closing monologue, and after credits scene. Actually I guess that makes it 6.) parts but this one felt like it needed to be 4 as the last split. I hope everyone likes it. 
> 
> Anyway I'm on hiatus for a while so to work on my actual portfolio and work on what will happen in the second half (I have a few ideas already though). At that point the reason I call this "Left of Center" will start to become apparent.
> 
> Enjoy!


	13. Friends Indeed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They future is now, or is it the past is present? Who knows as the Six mysterious people are finally revealed.

Excerpt, Journal 6: June 3, 2018 – First big party of the summer.  It’s good to see everyone again.  A lot has changed in 6 years but it still feels like the Gravity Falls we knew.  (the writing trails off a bit)  I just wish everyone was here to enjoy it. (A small water damaged spot can be seen in the paper.)  Well I’m not going to let this get me down.  If my brother says we’re going to have fun then we will.

 

* * *

 

“Everyone,” Sherman started. “I want you to meet the authors of the journals.”  He paused and took a deep breath.  “Yourselves.”

The air stilled as the machine finished powering down.  The light that once brightened to room from the diodes and cables were now dim.  Fiddleford reached behind him and flipped the light switch brightening the room once again.  Even though this sudden change in brightness should be what was causing the group to rub their eyes it was actually the fact that they were having trouble believing what they were seeing.  Standing in the middle of the room Sherman Pines was motioning to six figures, five adults and a teen.  Indeed as Sherman had just said the five adults looked egregiously similar to what some would think they would grow up into. 

To the far left was a man wearing a nicer baby blue vest with white shirt underneath.  His white hair slicked back allowing them to see his left eye hidden by an eye patch with a weird symbol on it.  He was fondling the broach on his necktie that had a pentagram on it with his left hand. 

To his right was a woman holding the hand of man to her right.  Her Sweater tattered and worn but well taken care of.  Her other hand was covering her mouth as if to hold back a cry, of joy or sorrow none could tell.  On her ears she wore earrings with shooting stars dangling just short of an inch from her lobes.

The one whose hand she held, the person who had opened the portal stood staring at the group, small smile starting to crack on his mouth.  Wearing a lab coat with a plain orange shirt beneath he stood there holding his recently removed dew rag in his hand.  The dew rag, that just moments before, had hidden a birthmark on his forehead.

Next was a taller woman her short Red hair spiked up.  She wore flannel in the colors of green and brown.  She was palming an ornate axe that she had attached to her belt.  The stare she gave the others sent chills down their spines as she stood ready to jump at any moment.

Beside her and back a few steps was a woman wearing nicer clothing, her short blond hair done in a bob.  A necklace hung from her neck with a llama effigy on the end of it. She stood in-between the group and the youngest of their group one gloved arm reaching out to intervene between them and the younger girl.

The youngest.  The girl had to be roughly Dipper and Mabel’s age.  She wore a tattered shirt, the one with the question mark you could get at the mystery shack, that was far too big for her.  She swung her arms from side to side with a big smile on her face as if nothing was going on. 

It was now apparent to everyone, they were dealing with something that they had never dealt with before.  Moments went on in silence as neither group was sure of what to make of the others.  Finally, breaking the standoff, the elder version of Dipper took a few steps forward and began to speak.

“Hello everyone.”  The crack of a smile on his face now broke into a full grin.  “It’s wonderful…”  He stopped, a tear forming in his eye.  He wiped it clear.  “It’s wonderful to finally see all of you together again.”

He took another step forward.  As he did several thoughts ran through Fords head all at once.  Snapping himself out of his shock he shouted.  “Stop right there!”  Reaching for his blaster and once again finding it missing he threw out his hand to stop the man from approaching.

The elder looking Dipper stopped, his smile going to a look of confusion. “I…  what?  Grunkle Ford?”  He asked.

“Stop!  Stay back!”  The elder Dipper took a step back in compliance.  “Do you know what you’re doing?  Your very presences could rip apart this dimension.  If any of you get anywhere near your counterparts we will all die!”

Everyone in the room looked with worry at each other, all save for the older Dipper who breathed a sigh of relief.  He started walking forward again, against Fords wishes.

“Grunkle Ford, it won’t happen like that.”  He walked straight to his other self, taking a knee and placing his hand on Dipper’s shoulder.  “Hey Dipper.  It’s been a long time.”

The look of shock flashed Ford’s face as Dipper just stared at his older self.  “But how?  In the other dimension Fiddleford…” 

“Found that if two of the same people meet in the same spot they will both disappear and cause the dimension to collapse.  That’s why when he found out you weren’t his Ford he sent you away as fast as possible.”  Standing and looking at Ford he continued.  “But that theory was wrong.  Matter does annihilate itself if it meets but only if it is the exact same matter at the exact same moment.”

Standing back up and walking back to his comrades he turned and continued. “But were different.  We’re neither the same moment nor the same matter as you are.  I can prove it.”  He turned around and went to a bag on the ground.  Pulling out an old dilapidated copy of journal 3 he returned and handed it to Ford.

“But how?  My journals were all destroyed during Weirdpocolypse!”  Ford looked shocked.

“We called it Weirdmageddon.”  He looked down as he turned the journal to the page where Ford had written about that dimension. 

“Weirdmageddon?  That was one of the ideas floating in my head but…”

“We’re not the same as you are.  Though minor our experiences are different in subtle but huge ways. In my world the journals returned after we sealed Bill.”

At this point Mabel had heard enough.  Throwing up her arms she began shouting.  “Okay, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE!” 

Mabel grabbing everyone’s attention the older Dipper looked around the room to gauge everyone’s state of being.  Seeing the fatigue on his companions he sighed as he turned to the Mabel.  “I’m sorry Mabel.  I would love to give you the full story but to be honest it’s been a long night and everyone’s tired.”

“But!’ Mabel started before giving a big yawn. “Oh, alright, I guess I’m a _bit_ tired.  But you have to promise me that you’ll tell me everything tomorrow Dipper.”

The older Dipper chuckled.  “Well I can’t say I can tell you _everything_ but I’ll tell you what I can. Oh and Mabel…”

“Yeah?”

“Call me Mason.  I haven’t used that nickname in a long time.”  He got real close to her and whispered, ”Plus I think your brother’s got dibs on the cool nickname. “ He winked at her.

“Okay!” She replied giving him a wink back.

Ford started to protest the abrupt ending of the meeting but Sherman hand on his shoulder told drew his attention.  “Ford, let it be for one night.   I’ll stay here and help them settle in and in the morning I know Mason will tell you everything. “ He paused as Ford looked unsure if he wanted to speak.  “Please, they just went through something big like this and they’re tired.  Let them get a good night’s rest for once.”

Ford glanced over at the other older versions and realized that they indeed were showing fatigue.  Sighing he relented and patted Sherman’s hand on his shoulder.  As the group got their things Wendy offered to take Candy, Pacifica, and Gideon home on her way.  Dipper, Mabel, Ford, and Stan took his car back. 

As they drove back Dipper and Mabel quickly nodded off in the back seat.  Ford on the other hand could only stare at the road as they drove on.  Half way there Ford shifted in his seat.

“Why did you stop me back there?  Did you know what was going to happen?”  He asked his brother.

“Nope, never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to see the kids grown up.” He laughed softly as to not wake the kids.

“Then why did you do it?  I told you this could have destroyed everything.  Why trust Sherman over me?”

Stan thought for a moment before he gave his reply.  “I don’t know, maybe it’s because I feel like I’ve been in his shoes.  I had to hold a secret for 30 years to save my family.  Maybe I felt Sherman was doing the same.  Kindred spirits I guess.”

They drove in silence as Ford mulled the thought.

“Thank you Stanley.”

“For what?”

“For doing what I never could.  Now… and back then too.”

“Hey, that’s what brothers are for.”

 

* * *

 

The drive the next day was bristling with energy.  Dipper and Mabel sat in the back of the car as Stan drove back to the manor.  The two younger twins were chatting about what possible things they could learn from their older selves.

“I bet I made an amazing series of Ghost Hunting videos!”  Dipper speculated.

“Oh yea?  I bet I’m a world renowned fashion designer!”  Mabel retorted.

“You? World renowned?  I doubt it!”

“Oh yea I bet you’re just a nerd who still lives with Mom and Dad!”

“No way!  I’m way smarter than you.  I bet he’s going to tell me I get into a really cool college!”

“Yea, like community college, as a janitor!”

“Mabel stop!”

Ford looked over his shoulder to see the twins grappling in the back seat.  “Stop that you two or we’ll have to take you back to the shack.”  _Oh god,_ Ford thought, _I sound like my mother_.

Thankfully that did get the twins to stop.  Well stop physically, he could still hear them mumbling things to each other but at least they weren’t loud enough to understand.   He sighed as the car hit a bump.  Last night felt like a dream to him still.  He honestly wished it was a dream. 

He hoped that when they pulled up to the manor that it was empty.  He hoped that when he walked into the ballroom again it was just that, a ballroom.  He could easily convince everyone at that point that they had just experienced a group hallucination due to stress and fatigue.  He wanted everything to go back to normal.

Pulling up to the gates of the manor they drove in.  Parking just outside the main entrance everyone exited the car.

“Dipper, did you hear back from Wendy about everyone else?”  Stan asked as they made their way to the steps.

“Yea, I called her this morning.  She says that her dad had to borrow her truck to she couldn’t make it herself.”

“Oh, uh, okay.” Stan turned to Mabel.  “What about Candy and Gideon.”

“They said they were going to take a day to think on it before coming up.  Something about making sure they know what they are doing before they start asking questions.”  She turned to Dipper.  “What about your _girlfriend_?”

“Mabel she’s not…”  He stopped and relented. “I called her house but her mom says she and her dad are talking today about her future so she can’t make it either.”

“Oof” Both Mabel and Stan replied.

“Yea, she still doesn’t know if she’s going to get sent off to boarding school next week or not but she told me before we left that she’s going to try to fight it.” Dipper sulked at the final part.  He really wanted Pacifica to stay but he knew there was only so much she could do against her father.

“I’m sorry Bro-Bro.  I know it’s hard to have your first relations ship be like this.”  She hugged him tight and he gave a little smile.

“Well at least she’s not a bunch of gnomes in a coat.”  Dipper cracked.  Mabel broke the hug and gave him the “oh no you didn’t” look.  Stepping back she punched his shoulder. “Oww”

“Serves you right.  Anyway are we going to go in?”  Mabel asked excitedly of the two older twins.

Ford sighed and turned to the doors.  “I suppose we are.  Here we stand at the breach of the unknown, willingly staring into the void.”

“Is that some sort of spell or something?”  Stan asked

“It’s poetry Stanley.  You wrote a bunch of it for your play.”

“Right… I wrote it.”

Ford groaned as he reached for the door knocker. 

THUD

THUD

THUD

They waited but thirty seconds before a friendly face greeted them.  Fiddleford opened the doorway with a big smile on his face.

“Well toot my horn and call me a sheep herder.  You made it!”  Everyone was a little surprised at the euphemism Fiddleford gave considering his mannerisms last night were of one completely sane and unlike the hillbilly he was for those many years.  “Well, don’t just stand there.  Come on, he’s waiting in the garden!”

Fiddleford turned on his heel and started to walk in.  The other followed, trepid at what thing Mason made in the garden.  To their pleasant surprise it was just a normal garden.  Actually it was well maintained too.  Sitting under a gazebo Mason, no longer wearing his lab coat but wearing his dew rag again, was eating steak and eggs with Sherman.

“I tell you Grandpa Sherman, probably the biggest thing I missed was your cooking.”

Sherman laughed. “Ha ha ha.  Don’t mention it.  I’m not even the best cook, you should have seen my wife’s cooking!  Now that was something special.”

Noticing the five newcomers Mason, mouth full of food motioned them over.  Swallowing as they approached he wiped his mouth and stood up. 

“Excellent you made it.  Here have a seat.”  He swept his hands at the other chairs in the gazebo.  The four walked over to take their seats. “Can I get you anything to eat?  Grandpa Sherman made a big batch of steak and eggs.  It’s too much for all of us so you’re welcome to some.”

Ford waved it off as he took his seat.  “No thank you.  I ate before we came.”

Mason looked at Stan who shook his head.  He shrugged.  “How about you two?”

Dipper and Mabel had just let go from giving their Grandpa a hug.  “You made breakfast?  Can I have some?”  Mabel asked. 

“Of course.  How about you Dipper?”  Sherman smiled.

“Maybe just a little.  I ate too… but I can always have some of your cooking.”

Sherman blushed.  “Aw, keep that up guys and you’re going to give this old man a big head.”  Sherman started back into the house.  “Just wait there and I’ll bring some plates out.”

Sherman and Fiddleford both went back into the house.  Content they were gone Mason’s smile faded.  Taking his seat again he folded his hands and looked to Ford.

“So I guess you want to know what is going on.”  The look Ford gave him told him he was right. “Okay then.  Like I said last night there are certain things I can’t tell you right now.”  He saw Stan try to say something but cut him off.  “Trust me, it’s not me just trying to keep a few secrets from you guys.  I really want to tell you but to be honest if I did it may change the outcome of the things I have planned.”

“Planned?”  Dipper asked.

“Yea.  Nothing I’ve done so far has been without a lot of forethought.  Everything from enlisting Grandpa Sherman to giving you the journal was decided long before you came to Gravity Falls the first time. ”

“Does that mean you gave that cryptid hunter the journal page on purpose?”  Mabel asked.

Mason’s looked away for a moment, mumbling something under his breath.  “Okay, _most_ things were planned out.  That was an unfortunate but happy accident.  Thankfully that page was basically irrelevant to your search and…“ He patted a stack of pages beside him.  “These are the rest of the pages of the journal.  I had to take a few out to make sure you didn’t get into trouble before… well before I was ready to help you but it looks like you took care of that well enough on your own.”

Reaching beneath the table he produced journal 4.  Flipping it to the page to the one Dipper added he pulled out his companion page.  Between the two Dipper had managed to locate all of the sites save one that Mason had listed, however Mason’s noted several of the sites destroyed, including the one they had saved from Preston Northwest.

“Actually I’ve got to hand it to you two, you did way better than I was anticipating on saving this one.  When we found it originally the site had been destroyed by what looked like explosives.  So, how did the two of you stop it?” Mason looked at Dipper and Mabel.

Mabel shrugged.  “I don’t know I wasn’t there.  It was all Dipper and Pacifica I think?  At least that’s what she said.”

“Wait, Pacifica?”  Mason blinked.  “As in the daughter of the man who blew up the site?”

“Well Grunkle Ford helped too!”  Dipper tried to redirect.  Ford chuckled at the fact that he was being used as a scapegoat.

Mason leaned back in his chair and smiled.  “Well I’ll be a…   Fascinating.  This world really is so different from the one we came from.”

“How so?  What was so different from your second summer here?” Stan asked.  “Did you just pall around with Ford and I all summer?”

“Ford and me, Stanley.”  Ford interjected.

“Seriously, shut it with that.  Don’t end the world again because of your grammar problems.”  Stan shot back.

Mason broke out in a hearty laugh.  “Ah you guys, this is what I missed.”  Calming down he looked as they stared at him.  He sighed. “Well you see…”   He thought about it.  “Mabel and I didn’t get to come back here for six years after the first summer in our timeline.”

“WHAT!” Mabel shouted, jumping up from her chair and nearly on the table.  “Why not?  You mean I didn’t see Candy or Grenda for _six whole years!”_

“Well… you see there were some… complications in our time that prevented it.  It just didn’t happen until after high school.”

“What would have stopped us from coming back?”  Dipper asked.

“I, I can’t say.  Look, I told you there were some things I couldn’t tell you until I made sure they didn’t happen the same way in my time and that’s one of them.  I’m sorry.”  He looked saddened by the fact that he couldn’t be more open with them.

A few moments passed before Ford spoke up.

“Will you tell me what your overall goal is here?  Why did you bring them here?”

“That much I can tell you.”  He grasped his chest for resolve.  “The world where I come from, let’s just say something happened and we couldn’t live there anymore.”

“It was climate change wasn’t it?  See Ford I told you that they hype was real!”  Stan slapped his brother’s arm with the back of his hand.  “And you told me it wasn’t real!”

“No Stanley, you told me it wasn’t real.  Also, it’s called global warming.  Climate change is just something the media made up to lessen the impact of the term.”  Ford replied as he shot his brother an annoyed look.

“Well that wasn’t how I remembered it.”

Chuckling again Mason waited until they were done before continuing.

“Well no, it wasn’t global warming, though that may have been a better fate.  No, what we faced was much worse.  While I can’t go into the details yet what I can say is this.  I swear on my family and friends that I will do everything it takes to prevent what happened to us from happening again.”

Awed at his dedication the others could simply nod in agreement.

“But why bring them back?” Ford asked.

“Them?  Oh you mean the rest of… yes.  So when we first found a way to go back to this place we realized that it would only support one person, that’s it.  However I couldn’t just abandon everyone.  So I spent the free time I had devising a way to bring the rest of them back.  The portal was that solution, a temporary rift in space time that would allow them to come back and be safe. They are my family, my friends, and I will do anything I can to make sure they’re safe.”

The Pines family took a moment to look at each other as the door opened.  Coming out was Sherman with a pair of plates full of steak and eggs.  Not far behind him carrying his own plate was the older Gideon.  Setting down next to Mason he took his first bite of food.

“Oh my stars this is the best thing I’ve had in nearly a decade!”  His eye shined with excitement.  “Mr. Pines you have truly outdone yourself with this truly delectable meal!”

Sherman laughed as he placed Mabel and Dippers plates in front of them.  “Think nothing of it.  You guys deserve a break from… whatever you were eating out there.”

Taking a taste of their own Dipper and Mabel would conclude that the amount of salt use in the eggs was a little bit too much and the steak was chewy.  It was still good but it wasn’t the best thing they ever had, let alone the best thing they’d had this summer.

“I take it everyone is getting up?” Mason asked Gideon as he woofed down his plate.

“Go easy on that, there more where that came from.” Sherman warned him just in time to see him start to choke.  Quickly grabbing a glass of water and chugging he cleared the blockage and nodded.

“Right, thank you.”  He waited for the food to go down.  “Abby’s up.  Pacifica’s giving her a bath right now.  I think Wendy and Mabel are still sleeping though.”

“You got her to give Abby a bath?  How could you convince her?  I couldn’t get her to give the time of day when I was with you guys.” Mason sounded surprised.

“A lot has changed in the time you were gone.  Pacifica’s been acting more like Abby’s mother in your absence considering Mabel…”  He stopped and looked at the Mabel sitting across the table from him.  “Well Mabel has been Mabel.”

“Right.” Mason replied, not letting it get to him.

As Mason took another bite of his food just around the bend everyone picked up on someone shouting something.  Turning to see what the commotion was the younger girl came running around the bend wearing her long mystery shack shirt, wet hair flowing behind her as she ran giggling.

“ABBY GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!  YOU ARE _NOT_ DRY AND I HAVE _NOT_ DONE YOUR HAIR YET!” Another shout was heard from just behind the bend.

A moment later the older Pacifica wearing a white Northwest robe rushed around the corner after the girl.  Taking a few steps before seeing everyone looking at her on the gazebo she turned a grade of red that had no equivalent to the human eye.  Quickly retreated around the corner she poked her head out again.

“Abby, come here this instant!”  She tried in vain to curb the younger girl who was now in the gazebo just a few feet away from Mason and Gideon.

“Mason, Mason!   Look at this!”  She held up a rubber duck in one hand.  “What is it?!  I don’t know!”

Gideon broke out into laughter as Mason retreated into his hands.  “Oh Abby!” He groaned. 

“What?” She cocked her head to the side as she looked at him.

Gideon cleared a tear from his eye.  “Abby, we told you already, we have guests.  You can’t go running around like that when people are here.”

“Like what?”  She asked as she spun around.  “This is the only dress I own.  Should I be naked or something?” 

“NO!” Mason and Gideon replied in unison.

“Okay!”  Abby smiled and started swinging her hands back and forth.  She turned and saw the other people at the table.  “Oh, who are you guys!”

Quickly running over to Dipper and Mabel she jumped in excitement.  The twins got up from their seats so greet her.  She looked about their age, maybe just a little bit taller than Mabel was now.

“Hi, I Dipper.”

“I’m Mabel.  Nice to meetcha!”  Mabel held out her hand all cool like.

Abby stopped jumping.  “You’re Mabel too!  Hey Mason, did you know her name is Mabel too?”  She waved over at Mason who sighed.

“Yes, I did.  Now will you please go back to Pacifica to get your hair done?”

Looking past she saw Pacifica trying to wave her over from behind the corner.  Smiling she waved goodbye and ran back to her caretaker.

“Oh boy, I don’t know what were going to do with her now.”  Mason said rubbing his forehead.  “She’s always been the most energetic one of us, even when the worst was going on.  Now were not running for our lives I don’t know she’s going to expend all that energy.”

“Who is she?” Stan asked.

“She’s… a long story.  Let’s just say she’s the relative of a friend who couldn’t come with us.  Honestly I don’t know where she keeps all that energy stored up.  Anyway, I was kind of hoping that she would be able to live a more normal life once everyone came through the portal but now I’m not so sure.”

“Why not?” Ford asked.

“Phase four.” Gideon replied.

“Phase four?” the four of them asked in unison.

Mason nodded. “Bringing everyone here was phase three of my plan.  At this point we’ve done very well but I want to make sure nothing goes wrong in the future.  I want to make sure _our_ future doesn’t happen here and for that we begin moving on to the next step.  Actually Grunkle Ford, that was why I called you here.  I would like you to come on with us full time to help.  Fiddleford said that you were the best person for the job and knowing you I believe him.”

“What would you have me do?”

“Basically I would have you dive a little deeper into what we’re doing so that we can more smoothly prepare for the final phase.  I’d give you all more detail but it would probably go over everyone else’s head.”

“It certainly went over mine.”  Gideon laughed.

Ford thought about it for a moment.  “If I do this, will you tell me everything you know and how you learned how to come back to this point in time.”

“Of course.”

“Then I’ll do it.”

“Excellent.  Now that just leaves figuring out what to do with Abby.  Pacifica can’t look after her all the time since she’ll be working with us.”

“Why not have her stay with the kids?”  Sherman spoke up.  “She’s about their age and I’ve got a spare cot I can let Soos borrow so she can sleep in their room.”

Mason and Gideon looked worried at each other. 

“Eh, I don’t know.  There are certain… things, about Abby that might not work if she stays with the Dipper and Mabel.”

“Aww why not?  I like her!” Mabel jumped in.

“Yea, it’s like you said.  She should have a normal life so if she hangs out with us then maybe she can have fun for the summer.” Dipper added.

Again they looked worriedly at each other.

“Hey, I’ll be there most days to supervise them.  Don’t worry, I’m a great guardian!” Stan added smiling as he took Dipper and Mabel under his arms.  Both twins made a “uhh” sound and looked away from him. “What?”

“Nothing.” Dipper said.

Mason leaned back and looked up at the sky.

“It’s been a long time since she’s seen a normal sky.  Maybe having a normal life is good for her.  Looking back at them and slapping his legs he smiled. “Okay, what the heck, let’s give it a shot.  If anything happens though she’ll need to come back here, do we have a deal?”

Sherman, Stan, Mabel, and Dipper nodded in agreement.

“Well I guess we put her in your care for the summer then.  Ford, once we’re done with breakfast we’ll head inside and I’ll give you the tour.”

 

* * *

 

“So,” Stan asked as he drove down the road. “Where to first?  Sherman said he would swing by later with the cot and some things for Abby but I figure you guys want to show her around town first.”

“How about we get her a suit and head out to the lake?”  Mabel suggested.

“Yea, or we could take her bowling!”  Dipper added.

“What do you think Ms. Abby? What would you like to do?”  Stan asked, looking at the three in the rear view mirror.

“Umm.  The lake sounds nice.  I haven’t seen one of those in a while!”

After swinging by the mall and picking up a few new bathing suits for the kids they drove out to the lake. Changing in the bathrooms Dipper and Stan applied additional sunscreen as they waited for Mabel and Abby.  They didn’t wait long as Abby waltzed out of the bathroom wearing a green one piece suit.  She turned and called for Mabel to follow.

“Come on Mabel!  Hurry up!”  She shouted back into the bathroom. 

“I, I don’t think I want to wear this anymore.”  They heard her shout from inside. The boys gave each other confused glances.

“What?  You loved that at the store.  What’s the matter with it now?” Abby shouted back.

Stan and Dipper had been in the men’s section when the two of them had picked out their bathing suits so they hadn’t seen what the girls had grabbed.

“It can’t be that bad.  It’s not like Mabel to pick out anything but a girly suit.”  He whispered to Stan.  Stan shrugged.

“Hurry up or I’m going in there and dragging you out!”  Abby shouted in again. After a moment she was finally fed up she rushed back in the bathroom.

“No, stop! What are you doing?”  They heard Mabel shout.

Moments later Abby dragged Mabel out of the bathroom.  She was wrapped in her big beach towel and blushing hard.

“Come on, show them!  You look good in that!”  Abby said as she grabbed the towel and yanked. 

All Mabel could manage was an “eep” as the towel flew off her body revealing a suit so against what the boys thought she would have bought.  Mabel was wearing a two piece red bathing suit with a blue cover up skirt.  Both boys’ jaws dropped as Mabel turned redder at her sudden reveal.

“Mabel, you picked that?”  Dipper asked, flabbergasted at what his sister was wearing.

“I…  Yes” was all she managed as she buried her head in her hands.

“Wow, uh.  This is… yeah.”  Stan muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Abby looked at the two expectantly.  “Doesn’t she look good in it?”

Dipper looked her over again and smiled.  “Yea, she does.  It shows how you’re really growing up sis.  I’m glad you got that one and not another unicorn one.”

“You mean it?” Mabel asked, letting her hands drop enough to see.

Dipper nodded. “Yea.  You’re definitely the alpha twin here.  I mean I’m just wearing some old trunks that they had.  You, you went bold!”

“See!  I told you they would like it.  You wowed everyone in that!”

Calming down Mabel allowed her hands to fall to her side.  “Okay, keep it together Mabel.” She muttered. “Who’s ready for a swim!”

The other three cheered and they ran to the pier.  Not stopping when Tate McGucket called out for them to stop running.  Reaching the end the four of them took turns jumping to the lake and doing cannon balls.

After a few hours of fun in the water they put out their towels on the shore.  Sprawling out to soak up the sun and dry off they talked.

“So what was it like, living in the other world?”  Mabel asked.

“I don’t know.  What’s it like living here?”  Abby replied.   Mabel shrugged.  “It’s just the place you live in.  I mean, we were always on the move, and there was always the risk of running into something bad but we were family, kinda.”

“So what happened to your parents?”  Dipper asked as he turned over.  “Why didn’t they come with you?”

Abby thought for a moment, he head scrunching as if she was remembering hard.  “I, I don’t really remember them.  I have a blurry image in my head but that’s it.  It’s like the memory of them is just… gone.”

Both twins fell silent realizing they may have pushed a sore issue.

“We’re sorry.” Mabel apologized.  “We didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay.  I really just don’t remember them so it’s not like its painful or anything.  Plus Mason and the rest are my family now so I’m not alone.”

Neither twin could say anymore.  Not because they had no words but because Stan’s stomach rumbled loud enough for some birds to take flight.

“Welp that’s about all I can take of this today.  How about we get some…” He looked over to his watch.  “Four thirty?  I guess we’re getting dinner then.”

Stan stood and started gathering his things.  The other three followed suit and a quick bathroom trip to change later they were on their way to Greasy’s Diner.  The meal wasn’t any special for the Pines, they had eaten there before.  For Abby however it was her first taste of normal – or at least what they would have guessed was normal – food in a while.

They were very sure to make her avoid the coffee pancakes as they didn’t want her to recharge to full energy this late at night so she got normal pancakes.  Those, she ate with glee and an unhealthy helping of syrup.

Once that was done Stan contacted Sherman who told him he dropped off the cot at the shack.  Figuring it is time to take her there, and nothing else get her a change of clothes as she was still wearing the tattered shirt, Stan had them pile in and he drove to the shack.

Arriving a while later at the shack the twins took her into the gift shop where Soos was closing up the shop. 

“Oh hey dudes!”

“Hey Soos” the twins called out.

Abby started to wander around the store as Soos watched.

“Is she the one that Mr. Pines was telling me would be staying here?”

“Yea, she’s going to stay with me and Dipper until some stuff gets done at her new home.”  Mabel said.  She wasn’t lying but then again, that wasn’t quite right either.

Soos rounded the counter and approached Abby.  She turned and looked up at the massive man before her.

“Wow, you’re big.”

Soos laughed as he jiggled his belly.  “Yea, I get that a lot.”

“Soos?  Did you finish the drawer yet?  I need to put in the final numbers.”  Melody asked as she walked in from the hallway.  “Plus Abeulita wants to know if you are going to read to her tonight, I guess.  I still don’t know why she has you do that.”

“Soos?” Abby whispered.  She winced in pain for a moment, holding her head..

“Sorry Melody, I was almost done with it when our new house guest came in and…”  Soos turned back to where Abby had been standing a moment ago.  She was missing.  “Huh?  I wonder where she went.”

Dipper and Mabel looked over and realized that they didn’t see her leave.  Hearing the door shut behind them they ran outside.  Not seeing her they called for her, finding nothing.

Stan was walking up to them as they yelled for her.

“Why did Abby run past me like that?”  Stan asked.

“I don’t know.  Soos was introducing himself and Abby just ran off.”  Dipper replied.

“To where?  She doesn’t know this town so where would she go.  It’s not like she could figure out her way back to the mansion from here.” 

Mabel’s eyes widened as she had an epiphany. “Dipper, I think I know where she might have gone.”

She looked at her brother who thought on it a second.  “You think they exist?”

“If they were then they might be now.”

“What are the two of you talking about?”  Stan asked, confused.

“We’ll be right back Grunkle Stan!”  Dipper said as he and Mabel ran off into the woods.

It took some finding but sure enough the tunnels they had seen in the future were in Gravity Falls.  Hopping down into them they were much smaller and less dug out than the ones they saw in the future but still they could manage the distance.

“You think the gnomes dug these?”  Dipper asked.

“I don’t know but I’m not going to be the one to find out.” She replied.

Dipper chuckled as he walked.  “You could always ask Queen Jeff.”

“Bleh, no thank you.  I’m an so done with gnomes.”

Coming upon a large antechamber they hit the jackpot.  Abby was sitting by a small crystal which provided illumination.  Her head was buried in her knees as she sat.

“Abby?”  Mabel called out.  Abby’s head flipped up and for a second she looked like she was about to run before they stepped into the gentle glow of the crystal and she calmed down.

“I’m sorry guys.  You guys tried to give me a normal day and I blew it.”  She lightly sobbed.

“What happened back there?  You left before we even noticed.”  Dipper asked as he sat beside her.

“I, I don’t know.  My head just started hurting all of a sudden and I felt like I needed to run.”  She wiped a few tears from her eyes.  “This was the only place I knew that I could go that was safe.”  She looked around the cave. “This was our home for years.  I just feel… comfortable here.”

Mabel hugged Abby as she sat next to her.  “You don’t have to worry, we’re both here for you.  Gravity Falls may be a weird place but you’ll be safe with us.”

“Really?”

“Really!”

“Besides,” Dipper added.  “There’s way more summer to go so you still have your chance for a normal day, at least as far as Gravity Falls in concerned.”

Abby smiled a little.  “Okay.  Let’s give it a shot.”

Dipper and Mabel stood and offered her a hand each.  She took their hands and stood up.

“Let’s go back to the shack.” Dipper said.

Mabel nodded and smiled at Abby.

Returning to the Mystery Shack Abby hesitated before entering. 

“Do you think he’ll be mad?”

“Who Soos?  No way, Soos is the nicest guy around.” 

“Yeah, Dipper’s right.  There’s no way Soos would be angry about something like that.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

Walking in to the shop Soos, now out of uniform stood tapping his foot.

“There you are.  Come here.”  He said in a stern tone.  Abby slowly walked up but couldn’t look him in the eye.  “How dare you?  Seriously dude, how dare you?”  He asked sounding angrier.  She began to wince at the thought of what he might do.  “How dare you run around in that old Mystery Shack shirt.”

“Wait, what?” Mabel asked confused.

“Yea dude.  I can tell that one has seen a lot but you’ve taken care of it super well.”  His angry tone gone, replaced by a jovial tone.  “Cause of that I wanted to give you this.”

He handed Abby a folded up shirt.  She looked up and took it, letting it unfurl.  It was another mystery shack shirt, several sizes too large.

“Sorry man, one size fits all.  But the way you’re wearing the other shirt this might make a good dress if Mabel would do some modifications for you.” He winked at Mabel who brightened up with a smile.

“You mean you’re not mad at me?”  Abby asked cautiously.

Soos laughed.  “Me mad? At what?  You haven’t done anything wrong.  Dude, this place is yours, if you feel you need to step out for a bit go ahead but remember this.”  He kneeled and put his hand on her shoulder.  “If you ever need a safe space this is one for you too.”

With that Abby could no longer hold her tears back.  She began crying as the twins walked up and hugged her, they were joined by Soos in a big group hug.

“Welcome home dudes!”

 

* * *

 

Excerpt, Journal 6: June 2, 2018 – Aw dudes, Dipper letting everyone write in his new journal.  I gotta think of something cool to say.  Oh, I know!  We’re throwing them a big party to celebrate them coming up for the first time in six years!  I went hog wild on this one and got everyone in town to show up.  Man, they are going to love it.  Umm, umm.  Soos out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it begins again. The second half of the season is plotted out and ready to be written. I actually had more than 13 ideas for episodes planned but I cut a few just to make this concise like a real season (yes, I know GF was 20 and most are 26 not 25 but bear with me, I have a plan).
> 
> Coincidentally having read Lost Legends literally yesterday I panicked as some of the stories in there are very similar to things that happen here and in the future. I had to remind myself later that this is technically an AU (Yes, Left of Center is my own personally created AU. I know, weird way to reveal it as this is technically a crossover now.). Thankfully whats has happened isn't that hard to recover from (I might go back and edit the way Priscilla and Preston "met" from episode 11 later.).
> 
> Also, if you noticed, I've replaced the opening and closing monologues with journal excerpts (mostly from 6 but others will show up too). This will help to tell the story of what happened in Mason's world and why they had to leave it.
> 
> Anyway please enjoy and as always comments are welcome and appreciated.
> 
> P.S. Preview of the remaining chapters for this arc.  
> Episode 13 – Friends Indeed  
> Episode 14 – Settling in  
> Episode 15 – Circus life for me  
> Episode 16 – Girls Knight Out  
> Episode 17 – Coming round the mountain when she comes  
> Episode 18 -- Frost Flowers blooming in the Summer  
> Episode 19 – Making of  
> Episode 20 – Close encounters of the Weird Kind  
> Episode 21 – Lost Souls  
> Episode 22 – Pant the town Purple and Blue  
> Episode 23 – The Plan  
> Episode 24 – How we all fall down  
> Episode 25 – The End of Judylwb Idoov


	14. Settling In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pines family acclimated to the presence of their futures selves but how did those from another time do?

Excerpt: Journal 6 – June 11, 2018 – (A post-it note is attached to the page) Hey Dipper!  I want you to meet me out by the old lumber mill tonight.  I want to show you something cool I found.  Oh and bring my hat with you will ya?

 

* * *

 

Tats held up his hand the red headed girl stopped in front of him.  She clicked her teeth at the interruption.

“Need an ID.”  He motioned for her to hand one over.

“Does it look like I carry that on me” the lady replied snidely.

“That’s the rules.  No ID, no entry.” He crossed his arms.

She clicked her teeth again and reached into her back pocket.  Pulling out a wad of cash she offered him a larger bill.  “How about I use this as my ID and we call it even.”

Tats looked at the bill, quickly took it under his crossed arms and nodded her to the door.  She stepped to it from the moonlit sidewalk and moved to push the door open.  Tats reached out and blocked her entry.

“What? I thought we were even.”

Tats pointed to her axe on her belt.  “No weapons.”  He pointed to a sign above the door saying the same thing.

“This old thing?  It’s just a woodman’s axe, it’s not going to hurt anyone.”

Tats shook his head.  “Last time someone brought an axe in here it nearly ended in a massive brawl.”

Clicking her teeth for a third time she turned and pulled the axe out and lodged it in a nearby stump.

“Fine!  Now can I go in?”

Once inside the she saw the bar was full of bikers and lumberjacks enjoying the summer’s night in the best way possible, by drinking and horsing around.  Seeing an open seat the bar she made her way over and took a stool.  The bartender walked over to her and set the glass he was cleaning down.

“What’ll you have?”

He looked around before pointing to a brown bottle at the top of the shelf.  The bartender shrugged and took the bottle down.  He placed a shot glass in front of her but before he could pour it she placed her hand over the glass.

“I pointed to the bottle, not your little Sippy cup.”

“Ma’am this bottle is expensive, maybe you should take it…”

She pulled out a stack of bills and placed them on the table.  The bartender placed the bottle down, took the bills and walked away.

“Not like they were any use to me where I came from.”  She mumbled as he poured herself a shot.  Gulping it down she turned to see what kind of trouble she could get into this evening.

 

Closing the door to Mabel’s room Mason quietly walked down the hallway.  It had been a long night for all of them but they were here now, safe from the world that was tearing at the seams.  Making his way down the hallway he saw a light on in the study. 

Deciding to check it out what was causing it he saw Wendy and Gideon sitting around a table.  The tired look on their faces belied that they needed sleep but neither could drop their guard just yet.  Deciding it best to join them and try to relieve them of their stress Mason took a seat.

“So, how do you like the place?”  Mason asked, trying to break the ice with two people he hadn’t seen in over two years.

“It’s… nice.” Gideon replied, looking around at the now empty bookshelves.  “It’s quiet.  That’s definitively different from what we’re used to.”

“Yeah, it’s nice to not hear the demon screams all night long.  They weren’t exactly a lullaby.” Wendy joked.

“Well make yourselves at home.  This place is ours for the time being until we complete my plan.”

“What?  What do you mean until you complete your plan?”  Wendy asked, a hit of annoyance in her voice.

“This is Fiddleford’s place, he’s given us the run of it for now.  Besides, once we complete the plan were going to go back.”

Wendy shot him an angry look.  “Back to _there_?  Are you joking?  We risk our lives every day out there and you want to _go back_?”

“Wendy it’s not like that.  I mean we…”

“We nothing!  Why can’t we stay here?  This place is peaceful.  For the first time in a long time I don’t have to kill a bunch of heckspawn just to have a good nights sleep!  Why would we ever give that up?  Give me one good reason!”

“Wendy…” Gideon reached out to try to calm her down.  She brushed off his attempts.

“Come on Mason.  Say it!  Why did you even bring us here if you just wanted to go back!”  She stood, nearly shouting.

“Wendy calm down!” Mason stood up.  They stared angrily in each other’s eyes.  “You know the reason I brought you all here.  I couldn’t let you live in that… that world any longer!”

Wendy turned away.

“You know I needed all of you to help me with my plan so that we can prevent that from happening again.”  Mason calmed down and slumped back into his chair.  “I… I couldn’t do it without you guys, without you.”

Wendy crossed her arms and looked down at the floor but said nothing.

“It was our fault this happened, I know it.  If we had just been better… I can’t imagine how it would have turned out.  We need to fix the mistakes of our past so that the us of this time can live a better life.”

The room was slient for a while.   Wendy continued to look down while Mason rubbed his temples.  Gideon just sat back and tried not to interfere.  Finally Pacifica walked in, breaking the silence.

“There you guys are.  Man this place is way bigger than I remember, or is it smaller?  Eh, whatever I got lost just walking around for the first time in forever.  Anyway I found a room for Abby to stay in…  What’s going on in here?”  She asked as she noticed the mood of the room.  “Mason? What did you say?”

“Pacifica I wou...” Gideon tried to get out but Wendy beat him to it.

“Mason wants us to go back once we’ve corrected the timeline.” She turned to Pacifica.

“Well I guess that makes sense.  I mean, this isn’t our timeline to begin with but do we really have to go back to that?”  She asked Mason.

He sighed angrily.  “Yes.  If we can fix this timeline then we’ve done what we need to.  We shouldn’t even be here.  Every moment we’re here we risk someone outside of the plan recognizing us and throwing the whole thing off!”

“So?  What’s the problem if someone notices us, it’s not like we’re teens anymore?”

“Look, Candy was here when we opened the portal and she wasn’t part of the equation.  If she goes and tells everyone else about what happened and who we are it could mean chaos.  People need to in the dark about who we are or else the variables get too big to predict.”

“ARG!” Wendy shouted. “It’s all about the science to you isn’t it!  What about us?  We want to live a normal life for a while since we’re here!  Why can’t you let us have that?”

Ignoring her Mason walked over to the window.  “Tomorrow Grunkle Ford will be coming over and we can start planning for the next step.  For now I need everyone to stay at the manor so that we don’t set the plans awry.  Does everyone understand?”  Mason turned to look for confirmation from his companions.

Pacifica and Gideon quickly nodded but Wendy, who had her back turned to him just balled her fists.

“First we send you back, then you drag us to the past, now you’re telling us we have to go back and we can’t even live a peaceful life while were here?”  She angrily said.  “No, I’m not going to be another pawn in your master plan.  I’m outta here.”

Wendy stormed off through the door.  Mason could only turn around and look out the window again.

“I, I’ll try to calm her down.”  Gideon said as he jumped up and ran after her.

Mason sighed as Pacifica approached.

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Why did you lie to her like that?”

Mason turned around, nearly in tears.  “What do you mean?”

“Oh, why do you do this to yourself?”  Pacifica wiped his tears.  “Just tell her what you want to say for real this time.”

“You know me too well Pacifica.”

“Well duh, we’ve been friends for what? A decade?”  Pacifica laughed.  “Now, are you going to go apologize to her or what?”

Dipper looked to the door.  Gideon was wheezing to catch his breath.  He shrugged at Mason who sighed.

“Well I guess I better get after her.”

 

* * *

 

Taking another shot Wendy put the glass down and set her head on the bar.

“Mason, why did you have to do this you big jack…”  The music drowned her out as an old sad country tune came on.  Annoyed at the song she started to pour herself another shot but stopped and took a swig directly from the bottle.  Slamming it against the bar she turned around again and looked at who was there.

“She recognized Tyler and the two service agents he had.  He seemed to be chatting it up with a few of the bikers, shaking hands and making small talk.  She wasn’t sure if he was here to stump or to actually enjoy himself.  The people he was talking to didn’t look like natives but then again she hadn’t seen a native in a long while so who was to say who they were.

Deciding that she had sat long enough she grabbed her bottle and made her way to the dance floor.  The tune changed to one that was a bit livelier.  The dance floor was mostly empty other than a few overcooked couples and, of course, Toby Determined who was dancing up a storm regardless of what the beat was.

“Yeah, look at me.  I’m blowing it up!”  He shouted as he spun around like he was at a disco tech.

 The song changed to something a bit better to dance with and she put down her bottle on one of the standing tables and began to let herself go.  She wasn’t sure if it was the pent up stress or the drink, or maybe even both, but she felt good.  She swayed her hips and threw up her arms, dancing to the rhythm of the beat.   For a while she lost herself in the music and nothing seemed to matter. 

The song finally ended again and she came back to earth.  Walking over to where she had left her drink she took a quick swig and stood there with her eyes closed, letting the burning sensation warm her up.

“Hey, how you doing.”  A nearby voice called out to her.

She groaned.  She knew what she was going to see when she would open her eyes.  There was going to be some cheeky biker who wanted a pass at her.  Sure enough she peaked out and saw exactly that.  She didn’t recognize the biker but for what it was worth he wasn’t her type anyway.

“Beat it bud.  I’m not looking to hook up.”  She tried to let him down as easy as she felt like right now. 

“Aww come on baby, you look so lonely over here.”

“Yea, and if you want to keep your jaw line intact I suggest you let it stay that way.”

The way she said it must have been forceful enough as the guy backed off and looked her over.  Deciding it wasn’t worth it he walked on to his next target.

Taking another swig she waited for another song to come on that she liked.  This one a techno beat that she hadn’t heard in a long while.  Taking another turn on the dance floor she tore it up.  She knew that, now slightly out of herself, that she was dancing way more provocatively that she should in a bar full of testosterone fueled men but she didn’t care, she was having a blast and that was all that mattered.

The song finished and the next was another slow song so she decided to call it a night on dancing and return to the bar.  Seeing her seat taken she hovered around waiting for another to open when another man approached.

The man bumped into her as he tried to pass her and apologized.  She only got a glance at him but she swore she caught the sight of a red beard before the man walked back to join Tyler and his new posse.  Seeing a spot open up she quickly took it, this time it was in-between two lumberjacks.  Holding up her bottle and swishing it around she tried to ask the bartending something.

“So what is this stuff?  It’s awesome!”

The lumberjack to her left looked at the bottle and in a Norwegian accent affirmed what it was.

“That is taken from the best honey suckle trees of our homeland.  Nothing finer than the drink you hold in your hands.”

The lumberjack to the right added to his companions comment.

“Indeed.  But be aware best to only take a few sips of that lest you lose yourself to the drink.”

Wendy looked at the bottle and smiled.   She had already downed over half of it, not like the rest was going to kill her.  Before she could take another drink she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“He good looking.  How about you and I hit the dance floor.”  Wendy cringed as she heard the voice behind her again. 

She turned to see the same guy from before, staggering a little, trying for his second attempt tonight.

“I told you, I’m not interested.”

“Aw baby, I bet you would be if you gave me a chance.”  He said as he reached out at her.

She grabbed his arm and twisted it to the side as he winced in pain.

“I said _I’m not interested_.”  She turned more as he started to double back in pain.

Two of the bikers who were seated nearby got up and made their way over to them.

“Hey, let him go right now.”  They threatened.

“Or what?” She replied, turning his arm to the point she could easily break it if she continued.

One of the men grabbed a bottle and broke it while the other balled his hands in fists.

“Or little Missy, were going to have to show you how we take care of troublemakers in this town.”

Wendy smirked.  “Oh really?  I think you’re outgunned on this one.”  She raised her other hand and pointed her palm to the front door.  Confused the two bikers looked to the door.

Outside Tats was taking in the brisk night air.  This was his favorite time of night when all of the bikers and lumberjacks were inside enjoying themselves and he could let his guard down and be himself for a moment.  He thought about how he wanted to go see that little girl who was in town again and see if she would make him a sweater this year.  He missed out on the ones from last year and she made the most amazing sweaters.

Suddenly he heard a creaking sound from a few feet away.  Looking over he saw the axe that that girl had planted in the stump.  Squinting he thought he saw it wiggle a little.  Suddenly the axe burst into blue fire and shot up into the air.  Flying right at him he threw up his arms in defense.  Nothing happening he lowered his arms and saw the axe was hovering by the door.  It shook as if to motion him to open the door.  Confused Tats felt compiled to open the door for the… kind ghostly axe?  The axe bowed as if thanking him before flying into the bar.

Tats could only stand there in shock.  “Maybe I should get a sweater sooner than later.”

The front door of the bar swung open and an axe, head covered in blue flame, flew into the bar.  Wendy caught it and quickly placed the head on the neck of the biker.

“Okay, back off or he gets a little shorter.”  She commanded.

The other bikers complied and backed off, holding their hands up in surrender.  Throwing the biker away she leveled the axe and swept it across the room.

“Anyone else want some of this?”  She shouted.  “Right, didn’t think so!”

As she turned another hand grabbed the axe, holding it tight so she couldn’t move it.  She looked up at who was challenging her.  She saw the man with the red beard who bumped into her earlier.  “You want some of this?”  She asked.

“Listen little lady, we don’t take kindly to violence in this town.”  She squinted to force her eyes to adjust.  She clicked her teeth when she realized the man holding the axe was none other than Manly Dan, her father. 

“Yea, well I don’t take kindly to being hit on.” She snapped back.

“Maybe you should leave, stranger.”

“Fine!” She turned around, and grabbing the bottle, proceeded to empty the contents in one go.  Throwing the bottle back on the counter she turned and walked to the door, looking back at Dan for a moment who just stared at her.

 

* * *

 

Another car passed her as Wendy walked down the road.  She wasn’t sure if she regretted the night or if she enjoyed it.  Groaning as the contents of her stomach started to catch up with her she debated whether to take the long walk back to the manor, hitch a ride, or sleep in the forest.  Deciding that the third option was probably the most likely considering her condition she turned off into the woods.

“Why did he have to be so stupid!”  She shouted to herself.  “He just needed to… needed to…”

She stopped, her head flung back to look at the nights sky through the canopy.  She laughed for a moment as she realized this was the first time in many years she could look up and see the stars shine brightly.

“ARGH!” she shouted as she pulled out her axe, the blue flame igniting again.  She swung at a nearby tree.  “How long are you going to be like that!”

The tree slowly started to slip down and fell, revealing Mason standing behind it.  He looked down as the tree landed just a few inches from him.

“I told you not to use that axe unless you had to.”  He calmly said.

“And I told you it’s my axe, I can use it however I want!”

“It’s cursed.”

“By _my_ family!”

“You’re losing yourself every time you use it” He looked up as he walked toward her.

“To my Great Grandfather who _knows_ what has to be done!”

Now just inches from her Mason placed his hand on the head of the axe, wincing in pain as the flames began to burn him.  Wendy reacted by dropping the axe on the ground, the flame snuffing as it left her hands.

“Mason why?” She looked down at the axe.

“Because you needed me to.” He looked in her eyes.

“No I mean why did you bring us here.  You’re smart and we’re a liability.  You could have just done everything that you wanted to without us.”

Mason turned and walked over to the log that Wendy had now produced.  Taking a seat he motioned for her to come over too.  As she sat down she put her head on his shoulder.

“What happened to you over the year you were gone.”

“Two years actually.”

“What? No way!”

“Yea, I couldn’t get the proper timeframe when I pulled you guys back.  I’ve been here two years.”

“So I guess that means you now the older sibling.”

Mason laughed. “Yea, but don’t tell Mabel.  I don’t want her to feel worse than she does.”

Wendy sat up again and looked to the stars.

“They beautiful.”

Mason looked up to the sky himself.

“I know.  More than anything I wanted you guys to see this again.  I wanted you guys to have a peaceful life, if only for a while.  I know you guys hate being cooped up in the mansion but it’s for your own good.  What you did tonight was super risky what if…”

“He didn’t recognize me.”

“What?”

Wendy allowed herself to fall back into the pile of pine needles.  Tears began to well up in her eyes.

“Dad was there.  So was Toby and Tyler.  Nobody knew who I was.  I even got hit on by a guy I think I knew since I was a kid who would have never approached me otherwise.”

“Wendy… I’m sorry I…”

“It doesn’t matter. None of it does.  We do your plan and go home right?”

Dipper fell back into the pine needles too, they poked him fierce but he ate the pain.

“Maybe… I was a little too cautious this time.”

“How so?”  She asked him.

“Well, this world is really different from ours.  Things you and I took for granted back home are completely different here.”

“Like what” she turned her head to look at him.

“Well for one, I think Dipper is over your younger self.”

“What?” she laughed.  “No way!  You held a candle for me for six years.  How did he get over me in one year?

Mason shrugged. “I don’t know.  I mulled it over while I was in school too, that first year.   I thought about giving you up for real when we got back but… I never did.”

“For six years.”

“For six years.”

“So do you think he likes someone else?” She perked up.

Mason raised himself up on his elbows and looked at Wendy.  “Knowing me?  No way.  He’ll most likely go the whole summer just worrying about the next mystery and not thinking about girls.  He probably won’t date again until he’s 20 or something.”

Wendy laughed.  “Oh boy, that’s going to be awkward the first time he actually does go on a date.”  She sighed. “I guess this world really is different.”

“Yup.  It’s got its own subtle charm to it.  That’s why I want to do everything we can to protect it.”

“Okay.  I get it.”

“Get what.”

“Why you brought us back.”  She smiled.  Mason returned her smile.  “Shall we go back now?”

Mason thought on it for a second.  “You know, it’s such a nice night.  Why don’t we stay out her for a little while longer?”  They smiled together.

“Whatever you say boss!”

 

* * *

 

Excerpt: Journal 6 – June 12, 2018 – Bro-bro’s been acting weird since last night.  It’s like he saw a ghost or something.  Oh, he snuck out to see Wendy last night, maybe SOMETHING HAPPENED! 

No Mabel, nothing happened now please stop writing gossip in the journal, this is supposed to catalogue the summer, not your fantasies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit, this one came in a bit shorter than the rest have (at least recently) but we all need a smaller adventure every once in a while. So the groups are settling in nicely and whatever Mason has planned it seems is on its way. So much more to do though before we hit the big finale. That said, next episode has a big finale of its own.


	15. Circus Life for Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soos and Melody join the kids for a fun day at the circus, but a circus in Gravity Falls? How can that be normal?

Excerpt: Journal 6 – June 18, 2018 – The page if full of different codes, one after another, and their ciphers next to them.  Finally one extremely long and complex mathematical formula is written in someone’s handwriting.  Next to it Dippers handwriting reads: “Okay, McGucket wins.  I don’t have a clue what this says.  I’ll ask him about it when we see him again.”

 

* * *

 

Abby stretched out on the bed she was laying on.  Turning over she saw Mabel cuddling tightly with her pig.  Waddles was his name if her memory served.  She had snuck into Mabel’s bed out of instinct as she liked sleeping with someone and Mabel seemed like the better person to be with.

It was a good thing too as when she turned over the other way she could see Dipper hanging head first off of his bed.  Wondering if he liked sleeping like that she slowly crept out of the bed and over to him.  Kneeling in front of him she squinted her eyes and stared at him as he lightly snored.

“Maybe his dreams are upside down so he sleeps this way to correct it?” she quietly mused.

Since he didn’t seem to move she figured she might as well try to help him back into his bed.  Reaching over and grabbing him by his shirt she tried to tug him up.  Sadly the shirt he was wearing was a tad too big for him and he started slipping.  Quickly trying to stop him she dove for him but missed as his head firmly planted itself in the floor.

“Ow! Not again.” He grumbled as the rest of his body fell to the ground.  “Why do I keep doing that?”

Dipper rubbed his eyes as he sat up.  Opening them he saw Abby looking like she was about to die of guilt as he stared at her.

“Uh, uh, sorry.” Was all she blurted out before running to the doorway and down the stairs.

“What was that about?” Dipper asked himself as he rubbed his head some more.  Turning to see his sister still in bed with Waddles he called out the pig.

“Waddles, breakfast time.  Get Mabel up will you.”  He said as he stood up.  Waddles perked up at the word breakfast and started nudging Mabel awake.

“mhm, five more minutes.” She mumbled.  Dipper shook his head and made his way to the door.

Nearing the kitchen he could overhear Soos talking to someone.

“Naa dude, you’re cool.  Dipper wouldn’t get mad at you for something like that.”  He heard Soos say.

Entering the kitchen he saw Abby standing beside Soos as he cooked waffles.

“Really” She asked him again.

“Sure thing.  Dipper just sleeps like that sometimes.  I’ve heard him fall half a dozen times since he came back this summer.  Oh man, you should have been here, this one time it sounded like the whole roof had fallen in!”

“Really?”  She leaned in.

“Yup, and this other time… Oh hey there dude, we were just talking about you.”  Soos waved as noticed Dipper walk in.

Abby quickly ran up to him and, covering her mouth with the long sleeves of her new shirt, tried to speak.

“Soos said you weren’t mad at me.”  She meekly said as she dug her foot into the ground.

“Mad about what?” Dipper asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“About me letting you fall off your bed.”

Dipper sighed.  “No, I’m not mad at you.  Thank you for trying to save me too.”

She dropped her guard and smiled brightly.  Turning and running back over to Soos she grabbed his apron.

“You were right!”  She shouted as she tugged it up and down. “He wasn’t mad at me!”

Soos waved her off his apron.  “See, I told you dude!  Now you gotta stop that or I’m gonna mess up your waffles!”

She stopped, her eyes widening.  “WHATS A WAFFLE?”

Dipper pulled up his chair at the table. “Abby, if you let him cook he’ll show you what it is.” 

Flipping around, she quickly bolted for the table, taking a seat next to Dipper.

Patiently waiting all of ten seconds she started asking questions again.

“Dipper what’s a waffle?”

Dipper groaned as he put his face into his hand.

“Just wait a few minutes and you’ll know.”  Looking up so see her bouncy he sighed.  “You might be worse than Mabel at this.”

“Worse than me at what?” Dipper turned to see his sister walk in with Waddles in tow.  “Thanks for having Waddles wake me.” She gave him an annoyed look.  Dipper couldn’t help but to laugh.

He figured out this summer that if you mentioned food to Waddles that he would immediately try to bring it to Mabel’s attention.  Normally nothing more would happen there but when you did this while Mabel was sleeping… 

Well the results were oft times humorous.

“Hey not my fault you didn’t wake up first.”  He joked at her.

“Well at least I wake up in my bed!”  She snapped back.

Dipper rolled his eyes.  He really did need to figure out why he was falling off his bed like that.  It was getting annoying waking up to a thud each morning.

Soos walked by and dropped three plates of waffles for each to enjoy.  Abby’s eyes widened again as she reached out to grab the waffle only to be slapped down by Mabel.

“Not yet, we’ve got to keep the tradition in the family.”

Abby looked at her confused.  Mabel smiled and turned to Dipper.

“Ready bro?”  She asked, reading her bottle of syrup.

“Ready!” Dipper replied with his own bottle.

“3… 2… 1…” The three counted in unison.  “GO!”

Both twins squeezed as the syrup slowly started to flow out of the bottles.  Little by little the droplet slowly lowered until just before it would hit the waffle.  As Dipper was staring at his droplet Mabel quickly tapped her bottle, causing the droplet to break.

“HA!” she exclaimed.  “I win again!”

“Okay, okay.  Just eat it before it gets cold.”  Dipper reached over to Abby’s plate. “Here let me help you with yours.” 

Putting a large dollop of syrup on the plate she watched as the two cut and ate their waffles.  Studying them she reached out and grabbed the fork and knife and mimicked the two.  After a few struggles she managed to get a piece cut and into her mouth. 

The fluffy doughy waffle with the sugary sweet syrup caused her to stop.  Tears forming in her eyes as she tasted the best meal she could remember.  Putting down the fork she could only stop as the blend of flavors exploded in her mouth.  It was even better than the pancakes they had gotten her at the diner.

Coming down she looked over notice that both twins were staring at her.

“So I take you like Soos’s cooking?”  Dipper asked.

She nodded slowly.  Mabel laughed.

“We love his cooking!  He’s the best!” Mabel turned and gave Soos a thumb up.

“Aw thanks dudes.  There’s more where that came from!” He laughed too, as he flipped the waffle maker.  “So what’s the big plan today?”

Dipper leaned back.  “I don’t know.  I think we’re going to wait until Grunkle Stan wakes up and see where it goes from there.”

“Oh dudes,” Soos started as he pulled another waffle off the griddle. “Didn’t he tell you?  Mr. Pines had to go into work today!  He left this early morning!”

“WHAT!?” Mabel shouted. “But Grunkle Stan said he was going to hang out with us!  What he got to do with that stupid play now?”

“Hey, Grunkle Stan is proud of that play.  Just because you got out of it doesn’t mean that you can call it stupid!”  Dipper scolded her.

“What play?” Abby asked.

“Grunkle Stan made a play about some stuff that happened her last year and Mabel was going to star in it.”

“Well not anymore I’m not.”  She moped, pointing her fork at Dipper. “Plus, Candy does a better job in that role than I ever could.”

“Aww, I wanted to see you in a play!” Abby chirped.

Mabel could only grumble at her brightness.

“So what do you think we should do then?” Dipper asked his sister. “If Grunkle Stan is out that limits our options.  Personally I say we call Grunkle Ford and have him take us to the manor so we can ask some questions.”

“Bleh, that sounds boring.  I don’t want to be up there all day while you nerd out with Mason.” Mabel thought for a second.  “Oh!  I know!  Remember that thing we were talking about doing a couple of days ago!”

“Hmm, you mean the mine exploration?”

“No, the other thing.”

“The old haunted lumber mill?”

“Arg, the _OTHER_ thing!”

He looked confused.  She shaped her hands in the shape of an upside down V.

“OH!”

“Right?”

“Hmm.”

She shot him an annoyed look.  “Really?”

Abby looked between the two confused.  She had no idea what they were talking about.

“We could, I guess.”  Dipper looked at Abby.  “Think she would like it?”

Mabel shrugged. “Probably?”

“Let’s do it then!”

“Alright!”

“WHAT!”  Abby finally broke in.  “What are we doing!”

The two looked at her and laughed.  Dipper shook his head.

“Sorry, we do that sometimes.  It’s a twin thing.”

“Abby, do you want to go to the circus!”

She brightened so bright that Dipper and Mabel had to cover their eyes.

“WHATS THAT!”  She asked.

“Uhh” the twins replied in unison.

“It’s a place where you can see a really fun show with a bunch of animals and clowns.”  Melody answered as she came in the kitchen.

Walking up to Abby she patted the young girls head.

“So you’re the ball of energy that I’ve hear so much about.  My name’s Melody.  What’s yours?”

Jumping out of the chair to greet the new lady Abby looked up.  “I’m Abby.”

“So do you want to see the animals at the circus?”

“More than anything!”

Melody giggled. “I like her Soos.” She winked. “We should keep her.”

“Oh man, she’s been super cool but I don’t think her parents would be too happy about that!” Soos chuckled.

Abby looked between them and in the same happy tone spoke.  “I don’t have any parents.” 

Melody’s face flushed with concern. “What? Of course you do.”

“Nope!  My mommy and daddy are gone, I think.”

“That’s, that’s horrible!  I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“To what?” She asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Abby doesn’t remember her parents.”  Dipper interjected.  “She says it happened a long time ago so I think she got over it but…”  He trailed off.

“Oh you poor thing.”  Melody patted Abby’s head.  “You know what, I’ve got an idea!”

She walked over to Soos and whispered something in his ear.

“But what about the shack!  And the doctor said you should be moving too much at this point!”

“Oh get over it.  I’ve been cooped up here since he said that.  I’m going to forget how to do anything if this keeps up.”

“Well okay, but only if you’re sure.”

She smiled as she gave him a quick kiss.  “You know I am.”

Abby leaned over and whispered to Dipper.  “Oh, they kissed!  I’ve seen Uncle Mason do that a couple of times too.”

Dipper flushed bright red as he hoped Mabel hadn’t heard that.  Luckily it looked like she was concentrating on the lovey dovey moment between Melody and Soos that instant. 

Turning together they smiled as they approached the three.

“Kids, Soos is going to take a day off from the shack today and we’re going to take you all out to the circus!  How does that sound.”

The kids cheered in approval.  Soos and Melody couldn’t help but to laugh at their excitement.

“Oh man, it’s been a while since I’ve been to a circus.  OH! I hope they still sell elephant ears!” Soos said as he rubbed his belly.

 

* * *

 

The tent of telepathy stood in the clearing, just in front of a few other multi-colored tents.  Adults and their children were running around in excitement as brightly dressed performers walked around showing off for the guests.

Abby’s eyes brightened at the sights, sounds, and smells overwhelmed her.  She jumped around excitedly as she ran to the archway that signaled the entrance to the circus grounds.  Before she could make it past though a rather large man stood in her way.

“Now hold on there little missy! This here is the circus.  If you want to get in you have to buy a ticket!” 

She looked up at the man.  Tall and wide could barely describe him really, he might have been the largest actual person she ever met.  Completely covered in clown attire he held out his hand as if waiting for something.  She smiled as she figured out what he wanted.

“Oh, I see what you want.”  She slapped his hand as a high five.  “Now can I pass?”

The big man shook his head.  “No, that just not right.  I need something else.”

She cocked her head confused.  What else did he want?  Thankfully Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Melody finally caught up to him.

“Oh dudes, is that Mr. Gleeful?”  Soos asked, looking at the big clown.

“Well if it isn’t the folks from the Misery Shack!”  Bud quipped.  “Come to see my new venture?”

“Naw dude, were here to see the circus!” Soos laughed “Also, it’s called the _Mystery_ Shack.  It’s okay, I get it confused sometimes too.”

“My boy are you just that du…,” Bud cleared his throat.  “Well Ole Stanley was better at the witty banter anyway.  Now are you going to buy some tickets or not?”

“Oh yeah, let me see…” Soos started rummaging through his back pocket.  He pulled out his wallet and began to sift through the contents. “Lazer tag membership, Emergency Pepperoni, nope, that isn’t it.  Uhh….”

Melody rolled her eyes and reached into her purse.  “It’s fine Soos I’ve got it.”  Pulling out a bill she handed it to Bud who inspected it.  Satisfied he put the bill behind the podium he is standing at and produced five tickets from beneath the podium.

“Here you go!”  He waved them through.  “Enjoy the show!”

Abby immediately took off with Mabel into the grounds.  Soos and Melody followed with Soos trying to apologize for making her pay and she waving it off as no big deal.

As Dipper made his way past the podium he heard Bud mumble under his breath.

“I know I will!”

Turning around to see what Bud was talking about he saw Bud talking to the next couple.  He handed them a ticket from the roll he had on top of the counter. 

Catching up with the group he saw Mabel and Abby stopped in front of one of the cages.  Peaking in Dipper saw a Giraffe lay in the ground lazily eating some leaves.

“Having fun already?” He asked the girls.

Abby turned to him and nodded her head quickly. “Yea, I don’t know what this thing is but I LOVE IT!”  She ended up shouting.

Mabel laughed and pointed at two older clowns trying to pull a mule along the pathway.  Watching them fall over into some mud she doubled over in laugher.

“Dipper” she said in-between laughs “Those guys are so funny!”

Standing back up the two clowns snarled at Mabel from a distance.  Dipper knocked his sister in the shoulder.

“Come on, Abby’s already moved on.”

Mabel flipped around to see that Abby was already several cages past them.

“Wow! She works fast!”

Dipper shook his head and followed his sister as she ran over to the other girl.

A little while later the barker shouted out for all to head to the main tent for the show!  Soos and Melody met up with the kids with Soos holding onto a bunch of different snacks.

“Here you go guy, I bought some snacks!”

Handing them out to everyone they worked their way through the crowd to the entrance of the big tent.  A man dressed in a fine suit with a top hat was checking tickets as everyone went in.  Reaching him Melody handed the man their tickets.

“Ah yes, we were waiting for these.”  He motioned for one of the strong men standing to the side.  “Bartholomew please take them to their seats.”

“Right boss.”  The strongman replied before waving at them.  “Follow me.”

The particular seats were in a small box to the side of the ring.  Once seated the strongman gave them instructions.

“When the show starts they may take volunteers.  You guys need to wait until the last act for them to do it but since you’re the VIPs but they’ll pick you if you do.”  He closed the seating box in and walked away.

“Oh this is exciting Soos.  I didn’t know that Bud would give us VIP tickets!”  Melody said.

“Me nether!  I guess all that competitor stuff is water under the bridge now.  He’s a cool dude for making it up to us now!”

“Wait, what competitor stuff?” Dipper asked.

“Oh you know, the normal hazing you give when I took over the Shack.”  Soos nodded.

“What did he do?” Mabel asked.

“Let’s see…” he thought about it.  “For four nights straight he called the cops on the shack after midnight so I had to get up and deal with that.”

“Or that was the time that he got the lumberjacks to try to cut down the totem pole.” Melody added somewhat annoyed.

“Yea, and the time we found my truck on the roof.  Oh man, that was a fun one to figure out!”

“Uhh, Soos, are you sure those were just hazing?  I think he might not actually like you.”  Mabel noted.

“No way!  How could Mr. Gleeful not like me?  We’ve bonded so much since I took over the shack.”

Melody rolled her eyes as the two girls laughed.  Dipper stopped to think about what Bud had mumbled as he passed him.  _No use worrying about it now I guess,_ he decided.

With the stands nearly at capacity the lights began to dim as the man they could tell would be the ringleader made his way to the center of the ring.  The chattering that had been going on quieted down as everyone waited with anticipation.

The man in the middle simply held is position, bowing to the audience with his eyes closed until the room was silent.  Somewhere just off to the side of the ring a single violin began to play a soft melody.  The lights went out completely and spotlights illuminated the Ringleader.

“Some say, in all the world there is but one mystery!” He began quietly. “The mystery is something that you seek all your life but never find.”

The spotlights pulled back from him to the sides of the ring and slowly began to rotate around revealing many of the members of the cast standing at attention, looking at the audience.

“We seek this mystery, not because we wish to but because we must!  It is one _so great_ that our lives depend on it!”

The spotlights flashed off for but a moment and the cast members were gone.

“A mystery that can be all consuming, all driving, all..”  The spotlights returned to illuminate the ringleader again who was now on a stool. “ILLUMINATING!”

The lights flashed and all of a sudden the ringleader was surrounded by four lions who stood up and roared.

“Tonight!  Yes, Tonight! I will give you but a small peek into that mystery you all been searching for!” 

The lights went out for a flash again and the lions were gone and he was standing on the ground again, the stool gone.

“TONIGHT WE SEE THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD!”

The lights flashed again and he was gone.  The spotlights started moving iall around the ring as if searching for him as he spoke in a booming voice from seemingly everywhere.

“FROM THEIR HUMBLE BEGINNINGS AS A FREAK SHOW IN GLASS SHARD BEACH I BRING YOU WHAT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR.  LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE GREATEST SHOW ON THE ROAD!”

The lights came up as several scores of people began to come out of the side into the ring.  First were the jugglers who walked around the ring juggling with themselves, then each other, and even juggling with the audience members. 

Following them were the trapeze artists who quickly scaled the poles and began to swing from platform to platform.  The clowns same next, they began running into the stands making balloon animals for the children and pulling jokes on the adults.

One of the jugglers approached the box the group was sitting.

“Care for a throw at me?” He asked in an Irish accent while juggling several multicolored balls.  The mask he wore made it look like he had large brown stripe down the front of his face all the way down to his facial hair. 

“Bring it on!” Soos cocked an eyebrow, accepting his challenge.

“Okay!” The juggler mused as he threw Soos the first ball. 

Soos caught it effortlessly and without looking began to throw it up and juggle it.  The juggler laughed and threw him the second ball, then the third.  Soos caught and rotated them like he was born to do it. 

“Alright, but how are you at this!”  The juggler produced three more balls started their rotation.  He then tossed one to Soos who rebutted with one of his own.  “Very good!  Let’s speed this up a bit.”

Throwing and juggling faster Soos and the juggler went faster and faster until someone blew a whistle.  Catching his balls the juggler smiled and offered his hand to Soos who shook it.

“If you ever need work as a juggler just hit me up, you’re a natural!” 

“Aww, thanks dude!  Here’s your balls back.”  Soos offered up the three balls he was juggling.

“Keep them.  A present for meeting someone who could keep up with me.”

Walking off and juggling his ball again the juggler made his way back into the rotation of performers.  Another minute passed and the whistle was heard again and the performers began leaving the ring.

Again from nowhere in particular the Ringmaster’s booming voice could be heard.

“IF THAT TICKLED YOUR FANCY YOU’RE IN FOR A TREAT!  OUR NEXT ACT WE HAVE THE MOST FEROUCIOUS, AND LOVEABLE, MEMBERS OF OUR CAST!  LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE CIRCUS ZOO!”

First out were the elephants, the giraffes, even a hippo walked out.  Walking around the Elephants would take some water from the small buckets in front of the stands and blow the water into the crowd.

“OH” The Ringleader called out. “I FORGOT TO TELL YOU IF YOU’RE SITTING IN THE STANDS… YOU MIGHT GET WET!”  The Ringleader laughed as the crowd did their best to shield themselves from the torrents of water blowing out at them.

“Eww, Elephant snot!” Abby laughed as one of the elephants soaked them.

Mabel, who was now soaking looked at Dipper who had managed to dodge the deluge.

“Don’t even think about it.”  Dipper warned her as he slowly slid away.  “No Mabel!”

Mabel slowly inched closer to her brother as he backed away.  Holding her arms out she jumped him.

“SIBLING SNOT HUG!”

“MABEL!” He shouted as she tackled him and covered him with water.

Soos, who had stood up to protect Melody from the blast took his seat again.

“Thank you Soos, you’re a gentleman.”

“My pleasure dear!” replied as she leaned in for a quick kiss.

With the larger animals gone the next group was the Lions, this time they were covered in metal armor with their tamers riding them out.  Walking them around the trainers would occasionally stop and let the lion walk up to the side and roar. 

“Jeez thanks Mabel, now I’m soaked.” Dipper said as she stood up and tried to shake the liquid off of him.   Not seeing that a Lion was walking by him he shook himself dry and a large bit of it got on the beast who turned and roared at him.  Jumping back in fear he fell over the bench they were sitting on.

Mabel couldn’t help herself to laugh.

“Oh man Dipper, that was priceless.  I wish I had that on camera!”

Dipper raised one arm and pointed at Mabel from his laying position, legs still raised on the bench.

“Some days, I hate you.”

“I love you too Bro!”

Helping him back to the bench they watched as the Lions made their rounds.  After a few minutes they heard the whistle again and the tamers rode the lions out.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FOR OUR FINAL ACT TONIGHT WE WILL NEED SOME VICTU… I MEAN VOLUNTEERS.  PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR THE CHOSEN FEW WHO HAVE BRAVED THIS TASK TONIGHT!”

The lights went out and the spotlights zoomed around the ring for a few seconds before all converging on the box that the five of them were sitting in.

“THESE GUYS!  AND NOW THE ONE YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR.  THEY SEEKER OF MYSTERIES, THE SOLVER OF PUZZLES.  THE MAGICIAN WITH A THIRD EYE.  I GIVE YOU, THE AMAZING TRIA.”

In a large puff of smoke a woman appeared wearing your stereotypical magician outfit, Top hat, duck tailed suit, cane.  What was different from her was, first, her suit was yellow instead of black, second she wore an eye patch over her right eye, and third and most amazingly, she seemed to be floating.

Fluttering around the ring she seemed to be dancing on air.  Finally coming to a stop over the center she lowered to the ground.  She took off her hat and bowed to the crowd.

“Welcome!” She began. “To my show of wondrous magic and amazement!”  As she rose back up doves flew out from behind her.

She scanned the crowd.  “I was told I have some guests tonight who were going to volunteer for my magic show?   Where are you?”

As she asked that a set of spot lights came over the five again.  She waved them to her.

“Please come down, don’t be shy!”

The strongman, who they had failed to notice return, unlocked the box that they were in and opened the door for them.  Cautiously the walked into the ring and up to the magician.  Up close they saw that she was a woman probably in her early fourties, her blond hair in a bob just behind her hat.

“So you are my brave volunteers.” She said covering up her microphone. “Aright, listen up.  You boys are going to help me do the heavy lifting, the girls are going to be the show!”

The five nodded in agreement as she let go of the mic over her mouth and stepped forward.

“Shall we begin!”  She asked the crowd who cheered in agreement.  “I can’t hear you!” The cheering got louder.  “I can’t hear you!” the crowd got even louder. “Okay that was too loud!”  She joked as she faked clearing her ears. “Do you want to make me deaf?”

Some chuckles and chortles from the crowd allowed her to segway into the next part.

“Well, I want to double that cheering.  Hmm… how to do it.”  She acted as if she was thinking.  “I know! I’ll double the crowd!”

She turned to Mabel. “I guess I’ll have to start with you.  Come with me.” 

Mabel followed the woman to a box that was being wheeled in by a strongman.  She opened the lid for all to see.

“Mind hopping in for me?”  She asked.

Mabel eagerly jumped into the box.  Tria pushed her down so she was laying flat.  Closing the lid she motioned for the two boys to walk the box over to the center ring.  Grabbing it they complied.

“Now, what would be the best way to do this.  Little girl, would you mind sticking your limbs out for me?”

Mabel popped her head out of one end and her legs out of another.

“I need to make two of you.  Hmm…”  She paused, ‘thinking’ again.  “I know, I’ll just slice…” She pulled out, of what seemed like nowhere, a large hand saw. “her in two!”

The crowd gasped as she walked over to the box and started sawing.  She went a while before she started to struggle. 

“Oh, getting to the good bits now.” 

Sawing further more gasping could be heard.  The sound of someone fainting from the upper rows could be made out.

Finally cutting through she put the saw away.

“Alright, that’s one down and…“ She acted as if she was counting the crowd.  “A bunch more to go.”

Mabel’s legs were still kicking back and forth on the other end. 

“That felt funny” Mabel giggled.

“Well I’m happy you liked it.  Boys, would you mind pulling the parts apart to show the crowd what we’ve done.”

Dipper and Soos pulled the individual parts of the box and spun them around to show that they were not connected.  She motioned them to put them back together.

“Well, I guess that won’t work.  I want more cheering and feet don’t exactly have mouths..”  She threw a large handkerchief over the middle.  Putting her hand under the cover she started to adjust something. “Let me just put her back together.”  She fiddled for a moment.  “You had only one stomach right?”

“Yup but my brother might have two, hey oh!”

The magician laughed.  “A real joker, I like that.  You should work here as a clown.  Anyway, there you go all back together.”

Tapping the top of the box she opened the top and Mabel jumped out as the crowd cheered.  Waiting for the crowd to settle down Tria got into her next trick.

“For this next one I bet you we’re all wondering how I was floating around up there.  I assure you it wasn’t wires or anything, I don’t go that cheap!”  Several conversations started in the crowd. “Don’t believe me?  Okay, how about this.  I’ll make this woman here… what your name?”

“Melody”

“Melody here float in thin air!”

The crowd’s reaction was a bit of skepticism and wonder.

“Alright Melody, what I need you to do is just lay down on your back.  Here, let me help you down.”

She and Soos helped Melody lay back.

“Alright, I need you to stay flat as board for me, can you do that?”

“With this belly?  I’m lucky to be flat as a bell!”  Melody quipped back as she closed her eyes.

“Oh wow.” She turned to Soos.  “Is you’re whole family a bunch of jokers?”

Soos laughed. “Naa, she’s got all the wit between us.  Plus the kids aren’t ours, they’re Mr. Pines.”

“Pines?”

“Yea, Stanley and Stanford Pines niece and nephew and Abby’s a friend of theirs.”

“I see. Well then…” She trailed off. Standing over Melody she quickly began to recite her line. “Whenisnapmyfingersyouwillbelightasair.”

Holding her hand out she snapped and a blue sparks shot out of her fingers.

“Now boys, what I need you to do is slowly pick Melody up and raise her into the air.”

The two complied and found that they could easily raise what should be a woman and half into the air.  Holding her up Tria motioned for them to back off. As they did Melody did not fall, instead she floated in mid air.  Grabbing a hoop from nearby she ran it over Melody and around her to show that there were no wires or strings. 

Content with the gasping in the audience she slowly pushed down on Melody until she was laying flat on the floor again.

“Youwillbecomenormalagainwhenisnapmyfingers.”  She quickly recited.  With a snap and another set of blue sparks and Melody opened her eyes.

Dipper and Soos helped Melody back up and the crowd cheered again.

“Thank you, thank you very much!”  She bowed a few times.  “For my last trick I am going to do something that should be impossible.  I am going to make something disappear.  More specifically I am going to teleport something somewhere else.  I will teleport Miss Abby and myself out of the tent and into another.  Is everyone ready.”

The crowd cheered.  She walked over to Abby and stood with her in the center.  Pulling up a circular curtain around them she held it in the air.

“Boy’s whenever you’re ready pull the curtain down.”

Shrugging at Soos the two of them walked up to the curtain and gave it a good yank.  The curtain fell and there was no one behind it.  The crowd cheered.  As the cheering died down the Ringleader made his way back out to the ring.

“Thank you ladies and gentlemen.  That’s it for our show tonight.  I hope you enjoyed it and will come back for the next one!”

As the lights came up the four looked to the Ringleader who was making his way back to the exit.

“Hey dude!” Soos called out to him.

“Yes?” He replied as he turned around.

“Where’s Abby?”

“Who?”

“You know, the girl who was with us!”  The ringleader shook his head.  “The one who did the final act with the magician.”

“I, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  The final act is the magician disappearing.  That’s a solo act.”  He looked confused.   “She doesn’t take an assistant for that one.”

Soos grabbed the ringleader by the collar.

“This isn’t funny dude.  Where’s Abby?”

Straining against the larger man he choked out a response. “I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  The last act is a solo one, she shouldn’t have used an assistant.”

Putting her hand on his shoulder Melody attempted to calm him down. “Soos, let’s just go look around.  Maybe we’ll run into her if we look.”

Soos released the ringleader who scampered off.

“Okay, but I got a bad feeling about this.”

 

* * *

 

Deciding it would be best to split up each person took a different area of the grounds to search.  Dipper arrived at the animal cages first.  His line of though being that maybe she would have come there looking for them but unfortunately the animals had been placed in the sheltered cages for the night, well all of them other than the lions who were still roaming around in the cages.

“ABBY!” Dipper shouted, hoping she would hear him and yell back.  Waiting a moment for a response he heard nothing but the low growls of the cats around him.  Dipper looked in at the lion who was nearest him. “Man, I’m glad you’re in there and not out here.  Huh,” he mused to himself. “I wonder why they left that metal armor on them.”

Walking a few feet further and yelling again he once again only heard the low growl of the lion, however, this time the growl made him pause.  The growl, if he had guessed, sounded like it came from directly behind him.  Slowly turning to the cage he saw the lion who had just been staring at him was now missing.

“Uhh, Mr. Lion… where’d you go?” he asked quietly as he traced the paw prints in the mud to an open door.  Following it further four of the lions were now out of the cage and approaching him.  Slowly backing away he hoped that they weren’t hungry. “Now guys, I know that you’re probably tired from the show but I’m not the one you want to eat.  I’ve got no muscles on me. I probably taste horrible.”

Backing into a wall Dipper quickly looked around for an escape route.  Seeing none he contemplated what little he can do about this.  The lead lion nearly reached him when he decides to take a chance.

“Hope this works!”

Pulling out the magnet gun from his jacket he aimed at the lions.  Setting the power to max and switching it to magna-pulse he looked away as he pulled the trigger.  Hearing the gun charge up and the lion leap he closed his eyes.  The static energy sound of the pulse going off and the further sound of metal clanging alerted him to the fact that he wasn’t dead. 

Finally opening his eyes and seeing what happened he saw the four lions stuck to their cages, the metal armor magnetized to the point they are pulled flat on the bars.

“Wow, it worked!”  Surprised he cheered to himself as he looked at this magnet gun.  “Grunkle Ford, you saved my life again!”

Deciding that Abby wasn’t there, and not knowing how long the magnetic charge would last Dipper decided it was time to move onto another area.

 

Mabel on the other hand had decided to try the concessions area, partly because she thought Abby might be there and partly because she was hungry herself.  After helping herself to some cotton candy and a Pitt Cola she resumed her search for her companion.

“Mbbm!”  She shouted with her mouth still full of the sweet sticky fluff. “Mbbm!”

Taking a drink to clear her mouth of what she noted she would have to go get more of later she gave another shout.

“Abby!”

“Well, if it isn’t the little girl who was laughing at us!”  She heard a voice from behind call out.

Spinning around she saw the two clowns who were pulling the mule earlier.  Closer to them this time she thought they looked around the Grunkles age.

“I think so brother!  How wonderful it is!”  The other clown smiled wickedly.

“What’s your name little girl?”  The first clown asked.

“Uhh… Mabel Pines, why?” She asked them as she backed away.

Both seemed surprised.

“Pines?” they asked in unison.

“Yea?”

“Did you hear that Ascot?”

“I sure did DIckie.  Do you think they’re related?”

“I don’t know, why don’t we ask.”

Approaching closer to Mabel the two clowns began to block the path, preventing her escape.

“Are you related at all to a Stanley…”  Dickie began.

“And Stanford Pines by chance?”  Ascot finished.

Mabel wondered how they knew her Grunkles.  From the feeling she had from them told her they weren’t a pair of long lost friends.  Mabel took a few steps back and they matched her.

“How do you know my Grunkles?” She asked cautiously.  Another step.

“Oh, were _old friends_.”  Ascot sly replied.  Another step.

“Yea, we owe them _a lot_ for them getting us into the circus business.”  Dickie added wickedly.

Both looked around a moment.  Mabel took four more steps back.

“Are either of them here?”  Dickie asked. Closing the distance

Mabel shook her head.  “No, we’re here with a friend.”

“Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to repay our debt to you.”  Ascot wickedly smiled as he pulled out a baseball bat and closed the distance.

Mabel held firm as the two approached. Dickie pulled out a set of brass knuckles and put them on. 

“Aren’t you scared little girl?”  Dickie asked her with an evil grin.

“Oh sure, but I’m not stupid like you!”  She quipped back.

They stopped to laugh.

“Stupid?  How are we stupid?”  Dickie asked.

Mabel whipped out her grappling hook and aimed it.  Firing it the shot it went right past the two of them.

Ascot laughed. “A grappling hook?  And you missed us too!  Oh this is rich!”

Mabel smiled.  “I didn’t miss.”

The two grew concerned and turned to see where the shot had went.  Seeing that it latched on to one of larger signs they quickly noted that, one, the sign wasn’t bolted down properly, and two, they were standing in the exact spot it would fall if it fell their way.

Without taking a second thought Mabel hit the retract button causing the sign to do exactly what she needed it to do, where exactly she had led them to be.  With a rush of wind the sign crashed down, pinning both of the clowns under the debris.

Mabel happily skipped past them, deciding Abby was not in the food court any more.  As she did the brothers shouted again.

“We’ll get you Pines!”  One shouted.  She couldn’t really tell which since they were buried under sign debris.

“We will have our revenge!”

Mabel just skipped along getting back to her search.

 

Soos had decided to search out the living areas for the performers.  He figured that if the magician took Abby anywhere it would be here.  Walking by some of the strongmen and freak show performers he noticed they all seemed to be in a trance.

“Huh, this place is giving me the creeps dude!”  He spoke to himself. He cupped his hands on his mouth. “ABBY!”

No response.  Even weirder the performers around him didn’t seem to respond either.  Walking further in he noticed a big bonfire in the center of the camp.  Several of the jugglers were sitting around it.

“Hey guys, have you seen a little girl, about yay high?”  He asked, holding his hand to about Abby’s height.  Seeing no response he walked up to one of the jugglers.  Looking into their eyes he noticed the blank look as the fire reflected in the juggler’s eyes.

Soos’s got a chill down his spine as he backed up.  “Man, what’s up with this place?”  He asked no one.

As if reacting to his question three of the jugglers stood up.  Soos jumped at their sudden movement but then collected himself.

“You shouldn’t be here” One of the jugglers said in a distant tone.

“Oh, sorry dudes, I’m just looking for a friend… of…”  Soos trailed off as the jugglers began to surround him.  The jugglers began to pull out long juggling knives.

“Umm, I can juggle with you guys later.  I’ve got to find Abby right now…” 

The jugglers began tossing the knives between each other.

“Dudes!  This isn’t the time!”

“You will join us…”  They began to chant.

“Not cool guys!”

“You will join us…”

Reaching in his pocket for something, anything to use against them he felt something familiar.  Pulling out the three balls he got earlier during the show he held them and looked back at the jugglers.

“Yes…  Join us…”  The three chanted.

Palming one of the balls Soos narrowed his eyes.  Sliding his right leg back took one of the balls in his right hand and held it behind his back.

“Sorry dudes!  I’ve gotta find Abby.  Hope you guys forgive me for this!”

“We will become one!”

 “You know what my favorite pastime is.  I’ll give you a clue, it’s not juggling!”

“JOIN US!” They screamed at him.

Soos wound up and pitched one of the balls into the center juggler hitting him dead in the forehead.

“Baseball!”

The ball, having knocked out the center juggler, fell to the ground. The knives he getting ready to a catch landed beside him.  Soos quickly palmed another one of the balls and lobbed it at the second juggler.  Catching him dead in the stomach the juggler doubled over and fell to the ground. 

“NOOOO!”  The final one shouted as it turned to him and pulled back on one of the knives.  Reacting faster Soos wound up into a softball throw, bouncing the ball off the ground and smacking the final juggler dead in the chin.

Finally free Soos looked around to see if anyone else had moved but was relieved when the others seemed to still be in a trace.

“Sorry dudes, juggling just a hobby for me.”  He said quietly as he collected the balls and left the area. 

 

Melody had decided to check out one of the smaller tents, the ones used for side attractions.  While they hadn’t been to any of them yet the two near the back seemed like the likeliest place that someone might disappear to.

Pushing the flap open she stepped in and called out quietly.

“Abby?  Are you in here?”  Melody paused to wait for a response.  She wasn’t expecting any as this looked like a storage area for crates and other cages.  She was surprised when she heard a response.

“Yes!  I’m back here!”  She heard Abby call out.

Quietly slipping in to avoid being seen she made her way through the stacks of crates.  Around the corner locked in a small cage Abby was patiently waiting.

“Abby! There you are! Oh, thank god we were worried.”  Melody said with relief as she approached. 

“Why were you worried?”  Abby asked as Melody looked for a way to unlock the cage.

“What? Why?  You were kidnapped, why wouldn’t we be worried?”  Melody replied.

“Kidnapped?  How so?”

Staring at the child Melody wondered if the child was naive or just too innocent.  “Darling, that lady took you without permission and locked you up here.”

Abby looked confused.  “I’m not locked up.”  She replied as she pushed the unlocked door of the cage open.  “The nice lady said that if I stay here that I’ll be safe.”

“Safe…  Safe from what?”  Melody asked as she helped Abby out of the cage.

“Why of me dear…”  She heard the voice behind her.  Spinning around she saw the ringmaster standing behind her.  He sighed.  “That woman was trying to save one again.  So annoying that is.  Well I suppose I do have to give her credit, it does make this little game more interesting.”

Melody stood in front of Abby, holding out her hand to shield her.  “What do you want? I won’t let you hurt her!” 

“Oh my dear, I’m not here to harm you, no no.  What I simply need is more performers.”  He leaned in, almost whispering.  “And what better way to do it that to conscript the locals of the weirder locales?”

“Why us?”  She asked, looking for a way out.

“Oh no reason.  You simply were in the wrong place at the right time.  I need a new family act and you fit the bill quite nicely.”  He turned and walked over to one of the other cages.  “Everyone in my circus works here willingly mind you, I’m not a slave owner.  I just offer everyone something they want and they accept.  Equal trade.”

Melody saw her chance while his back was turned and grabbed Abby’s hand.  They broke for the opening.  As they did she could hear the Ringmaster laughing.

“You’ll have your price.  They always do.”

Ducking out she saw that her path back was now blocked.  Taking Abby the other way they ran for what seemed like forever until they ended up in front of another small tent.  This one had a sign in front calling it the hall of wishes.  Ducking inside they stopped to catch their breath.

Looking around they saw what was probably hundreds of mirrors standing around.  Abby looked at a nearby sign and read it off.

“In this hall are the wishes of those who came before and the wishes of those who will come soon.  Take a look for yourself to see you past, your present, your desired future.  If you wish, that wish, that thing can be yours.  The price is yours to pay.”

Melody walked over and read the sign herself.

“What does it mean?” Abby asked.

“I don’t know.” Melody shook her head.  “But we should be careful.  I’m sure Soos will be here soon.”

Abby nodded and turned to look at the mirrors.

“Can I look around?” She asked.  Melody shifted uncomfortably, the whole situation creeping her out.

“I guess, but don’t touch anything.  I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Okay!”

Abby wandered off, stopping in front a few mirrors.  Sometimes she would giggle at whatever she saw, sometimes she would pout.  After a few minutes Abby had moved out of her sight.

“Abby!  Don’t go too far.”

Not hearing a response she started to make her way down the path.  Looking at the mirrors herself she noticed most were hazy.  Some were normal fun mirrors that distorted her form but as she rounded the corner she saw two that made her pause.

The one to her left looked like her, but not her.  It was as if she was looking at herself from last year.  She recognized the scene.  It was her first date with Soos, when that weird computer program tried to… do something… to Soos. 

She shook her head.  Looking back at the mirror it was now a hazy reflection of herself.  Stepping back she looked into the other one.  This one was something she didn’t recognize.  She saw a pavilion.  Soos was there wearing a tuxedo then…

She jumped back.  She saw herself in a wedding dress.  She could see Mr. Pines standing between them talking then… they kissed.  Soos swept her from her feet and walked her out of the picture.  Shaking her head again she stepped back.  Again the reflection was blurry.

“Abby” she finally called out. “Where are you?”

Turning another corner she finally found Abby standing in front a mirror.  Walking up to her she looked at the mirror and noticed it was all black.

“Abby?”  Melody could see that tears were rolling out of Abby’s eyes.  Looking into the mirror again she saw nothing, a black void that seemed to absorb all of the light around it.

“Ahh, so you finally found it.”  Melody flipped around to see the Ringmaster standing behind them.  “Each of these mirrors represents the wish granted to each of my employees in return for their… extended servitude. “

“What have you done!”

“Now my dear” He raised his hand. “I have done nothing wrong.  I simply gave them what they most wished for and in exchange I get them for a bit of time, that is all.  Now,” he smiled. “What is it that you most wish for?”

She shook her head and tried to pull Abby away but the little girl wouldn’t move.

“Hmm, let me guess.  You seem like someone who regrets something in their past or is it you want something that you have been denied due to how your life is going?”

Melody started to stagger.  Maybe it was the stress and exercise or maybe it was just the ringleaders soothing voice but she was starting to feel dizzy.

“Oh my, it seems you’ve already picked what you want.  Here, let me help you to it.”  The ringleader reached out and Melody took his hand without thinking.  He led her away, back to the other mirrors.

Abby stood there, tears rolling from her eyes as she heard the two of them talk.  The picture in front of her vanishing before her eyes as she turned to see where they were going.  Following them she watched as the Ringmaster stood Melody in front of a mirror.

“Yes, that’s it.   You just have to accept it and the gift will be yours.”  He smoothly whispered to Melody.  Melody began to reach out to the mirror her hand just inches from it.  “Yes, that’s it.  Just take it and the deal is done.

“HEY BIG GUY!”  Abby yelled.

The Ringmaster groaned and looked at her.

“Yes, yes, I’ll get to you next.  Lets me think, kids are normally easy, you want… you want…”  He trailed off.  “You, what are you?”

Abby stared him down.  “Let go of my friend!”  She yelled.  The Ringmaster just stared at her in confusion.  Letting Melody go he slowly walked to her.

“Why?  Why can I not see it?”  He asked.  “Why are you not reflecting?”

Fed up Abby looked around for anything.  Settling on a pebble she saw she picked and threw it at him.  The pebble missed him and landed near Melody.

“You… I do not understand.  You have no past, no future.  What is your present?”  The Ringmaster seemed scared.  “You cannot be here any longer!”

Reaching out to grab her she ducked under his grasp and ran over to Melody.

“Please, Please!  Wake up!”  She shook Melody “PLEASE!”

Her shout shook the mirror in front of Melody and for a split second the light returned to the older woman’s eyes.

“Stop that!” The Ringmaster shouted as he turned to grab her again.

Thinking quickly Abby ran over to the mirror that Melody was staring at and pushed it over.  Shattering into a million pieces the Ringmaster cried out in pain.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” He shouted angrily as he grabbed Abby.  He grabbed her by the wrist and raised her level with his eyes.

Abby could see Melody grasp her head as she returned to normal.

“What was I…”

“Abby!” The girls heard Soos call out in the distance.

“Abby are you in here?”  Dipper shouted.

“ABBY!” Mabel added to the cacophony.

Smiling she looked straight into the eyes of the Ringmaster who gave her a look of pure horror.

“THE MIRRORS!  BREAK ALL THE MIRRORS!”  She shouted.

“No!” The Ringmaster replied in pure anger.

“An order to break stuff, that’s my favorite kind!”  Soos bellowed.

“NO!  What have you done!” 

The sound of the mirrors smashing started to fill the room.

“Stop that!” The Ringmaster shouted as he dropped Abby and ran for the other three.

It was too late.  Soos began his rampage through the room like a large hairless gopher in a mirror shop.  Set after set was shattering all around as the Ringmaster began to shrill in pain.  Turning to the two girls he shrieked, his face now distorted into the visage of a monster.

“You, this was all your fault.”  His voice, once soothing now scraggly and ragged bellowed

Running back against the two they turned and ran further in.  As more mirrors broke the image of the ringmaster was quickly replaced by that of a monsters creature, features broken apart like shattered stained glass. 

Running as far as they could the two ended up in the back by the blacked mirror.

“If I am to lose everything I will at least take my revenge out on you.”

He raised his shattered glass hand in the air and prepared to slash them with the shard like fingers.

“Oh no you won’t!”  Abby said coyly.

The broken smile on his face was quickly replaced by fear as Abby and Melody pushed over the blacked mirror.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”  The creature shouted as the black glass broke against the hard ground.  The shattered pieces becoming shadowy mist in the air as they dissolved.

Staggering backwards and likewise dissolving the beast spoke one more time.

“You are the anathema, the bane of us!  Your existence should not be!  The ancient one will not stand for this I swear it to be trueeeeeeeeeeeee….”

Finally the last shards that made up the beasts body fell to the ground and vanished.

Dropping to her knees Melody let loose a sigh of relief.

“Is it over?” Soos asked from around the corner.  “What the heck was that thing?”

Dipper and Mabel rounded the corner and Abby ran to hug them.

“That was awesome!” Abby cried out.  “We should do the circus more often!”

The Soos, Dipper, and Mabel looked at each other with trepid looks.

Melody sighed.  “Maybe next time we should just go see a movie.” 

Soos ran over to her. “Are you okay?”  He asked as he helped her up.

“Yes, I’m fine.  I’m just tired.  Who would have guessed that this would turn out like it did.  Maybe the circus was a bit more exciting than I expected.”

Soos laughed. “Yea, I think I’m done with juggling for a while.”

 

As they exited the tent they found themselves surrounded by the circus workers who just stared at them solemnly.  The crowd parted so that Tria could walk up to them.  Standing in front of them she dropped to her knees.

“Thank you.  Thank you all.  You’ve freed us from our curse.”  She cried as she thanked them.  “You have no idea how much that means to us.”

The others took off their hats and wigs, holding them to their hearts.  Many bowed and kneeled to the group.

“We were all cursed to live as that… thing’s… slaves, just for a glimpse at what a moment we most wanted to be.  I can’t begin to think of how to repay all of you.”

Melody placed her hand on Tria’s shoulder.

“You tried to save her, didn’t you?”  She asked.

Tria looked up.  “I know it probably wouldn’t have helped, but I wanted to try.  I couldn’t just let him take all of you.”

Soos looked over to the jugglers who were nursing a few sore spots.

“Uh, sorry about that dudes.  You were kinda all weird back there.”

One of the jugglers raised his hand. “Think nothing of it.  If this is the most pain we get to be free then we would take it a thousand times over.”

“So what are you going to do now?”  Melody asked the crowd.  Many began mumbling to each other.  Tria stood up and raised her hand to quiet the audience.

“Not everyone here was conscripted so to speak.  Many of us were workers at the circus prior to... that thing... showing up.  Those who wish to go will go, but for the rest of us…”  She trailed off and turned to the group.

Without a word fist after fist raised into the air.  Almost the entire crowd raised their arm.  Spinning back around Tria wiped a tear from her one good eye.

“For the rest of us, the show must go on.”  She smiled.

 

As the five of them got back to the entrance of the Bud waved at them.

“Well now, did you have fun with those special VIP tickets I gave you!  Quite a show wasn’t it!”  He jovially commented.

Without a word Soos punched him square in the jaw, knocking him out.  Shaking his head Soos turned and walked to the car and hopped in.  Whistling in approval Mabel and rest joined him.

Bud woke hours later, his jaw hurt and the last thing he could remember was asking Soos how he liked the tickets he got him to make up for the hazing rituals from before.  Checking his watch he saw that it was dinner time and decided to go home, not quite sure why he fell asleep and why his jaw hurt.

 

* * *

 

Excerpt: Journal 6 – June 19, 2018 – Talked to McGucket about the formula he put in.  He doesn’t remember doing it but took a copy to try to decipher it himself.  Said he’ll get back to me on it soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And some days you write a longer adventure like this one. 
> 
> Also thank you Lost Legends for the few extra references I got to use that I didn't have three weeks ago when I started to write the synopsis for this one.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the fun of the show!
> 
> Ahh Abby, so bright and cheerful, but remember all things cast a shadow.


	16. Girl's Knight Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls of Gravity falls take a night off to go see a show, but a chance meeting brings up some information that they may have not been expecting.

Excerpt: Journal 6 – June 21, 2018 – Hey Dipp (The Dipp is scribbled out) Mason, meet me at the old lumber mill again tonight.  I want to continue our “discussion.”  Man, it feels weird calling you Mason now.  Whatever, I’ll see you tonight!

 

* * *

 

Dipper strolled into the living room in nothing but socks and shorts.  Mabel looked over at him from the recliner and cocked her eyebrow at the view.

“Where’s your shirt?”  She asked.

“Huh?”  He looked down as if he hadn’t realized he was naked from the waist up. “Oh, Soos is doing laundry and asked if I wanted to wash my shirt.  Since I got a stain on it earlier today, thanks for that by the way, I gave it to him to wash.”

“Not my fault you didn’t duck.”  She replied snarky as she turned back to the screen

“You could have warned me you and Abby were throwing snowballs in the kitchen.” He retorted.  Mabel shrugged.  She and Abby had frozen some shaved ice into balls and had a summer snow fight in doors.  Normally this wouldn’t be so bad but they had decided to use the flavoring to mark which ball was theirs.  This resulted in Dipper walking into a deluge of soft sticky balls being thrown, most of which hit him dead in the center.

He sighed as he continued to make his way to the stairs.  Stopping in front of the TV he looked at his sister.

“You’re in a different sweater than earlier…” He cocked his eyebrow.  “What’s going on?”

Indeed, Mabel’s snowflake sweater that she wore earlier had been replaced by one showing a big turkey leg.  Had she gotten any of the snowballs on her he would have expected her to change but since all of the munitions had it him only this was a surprise.

Mabel shifted in her seat.  She adjusted so that she could look away from Dipper.  He knew she was hiding something.

“Mabel….”

She whistled nonchalantly. 

Slowly creeping up to her Dipper held out his hands in claws.  “Are you going to tell me or am I going to have to…”

She smiled and acted scared as Dipper jumped her and started tickling her.  Laughing so hard she started to cry she shouted.

“Grunkle, Grunkle.”  Dipper relented at her cry.  “Fine, I’ll tell you.”

Dipper stood back as she hopped up. 

“So, Candy and I decided to have a little sleepover with Abby tonight.”

 “And…”

“And were going out to the new medieval themed restaurant first.  We’re having a girl’s night out.”

Dipper relaxed.

“Okay.”

“Really?”

“Yea, why not.” He shrugged.  “I’ll sleep on the recliner tonight to let you guys have a party.  I mean the three of you can do whatever you want tonight.  I’ll stay down here.”

Mabel sheepishly looked away.

“What are you hiding Mabel?”

“It’s more than just Abby and Candy and me.”

“Who else?”

“Well Wendy’s coming.” She replied.

“Is that it?” he asked, concerned.

Before she could answer there was a knock on the door.  Mabel quickly took that as an out and ran to open it, not thinking of how the person just behind her was currently situated.  Swinging open Dipper could see Candy and Wendy standing in the doorway.

“Hey Mabel.  Are you girls ready?”  She asked.

“Yea, I just need to get Abby. Come on in while I get her.”  She turned and yelled up the stairs. “ABBY!”

Not hearing a response she ran upstairs.  Dipper waved as the two girls entered.

“Hey Wendy, Candy, how are you doing toni…”  He trailed off as he saw the third person to enter with group.  Pacifica stepped inside with the other two.  As he had called out to them all three girls looked right at him.  The Candy and Wendy blinked at the state he was in while Pacifica blushed.

“Whoa, looking good there Dipper!”  Wendy nodded jokingly.  “I can see why Pacifica would go for you now.”

Having run around in a near panic for two summers and actually keeping himself in decent shape during the rest of the year Dipper actually looked fit.  While he was still lanky, and if Mason was any indication he would always be, he was actually well toned.  His abs were developing nicely for a 13, nearly 14, year old and his arms, now visible, had a bit of muscle to them.  Not much, but enough.

“MABEL!”  Dipper shouted at his sister as she made her way downstairs with Abby in tow.  Mabel looked to her brother and then to the girls and realized what she had inadvertently done.

“Oops.” She squeaked out.

Dipper shot her an angry gaze.  “Here, now!”  He grumbled as he pointed beside him. 

Giving the other girls a guilty look she ran over to her brother.  He turned them away from the group and whispered.

“Why didn’t you tell me Pacifica was coming!”  He yelled as quietly as he could.

“Would it have mattered?”  She whispered back.

“Yes. I know you want to grill her on us going out but don’t.”

“Pfft, what are you afraid I’m going to ruin this for you?”

“YES!”

“You know we can…”  Wendy started.  Candy quickly elbowed her to stop.

“Fine, what if I don’t ask her about you two going out.  Will you calm down?”  She said.  Looking back to Candy her cohort winked and gave a thumbs up.

Dipper thought about it.   “So it’s a dinner theater then a slumber party?”

“Yup”

“Here at the shack”

“Yup”

Dipper mulled it over.  He was going to have to find something to occupy himself with.  He could think of something sure, but he was still worried about what they were going to do to Pacifica.  This might actually be the first time she has hung out with Mabel, and that counts before they started going out.

“Fine, if you don’t ask her about us then you can do whatever.  Deal?”

Mabel smiled.  “Deal!”

Turning back to her cohort she galloped to the door.  “Lets go girls, our knight awaits.”  Making a neighing sound she made her way out.  Abby joined her in mimicking a horse.

“See ya Dipper” Wendy waved as they left.  Candy just gave a sly look and Pacifica looked him up and down once more before turning red again and dashing out the door. 

The girls gone Dipper fell into the recliner and sighed deeply.  He was at least relived that they wouldn’t talk about Pacifica and him dating but he was still afraid of whatever else that Mabel would come up with.

It happened to be at that moment Stan walked into the room with a Pitt Cola in hand.

“What was all that about?”  Stan asked.

“Mabel took everyone out to some dinner theater and they’re having a sleepover tonight.”  He replied.

“Yea, I knew about that, I meant about the ‘you going out’ thing.  What was that all about?”  He added as he took a sip of his drink.

“Well… Pacifica and I are going out.”

PFFFFFT.  A perfect cone of Pitt Cola formed in front of Stan as he did a spit take.

“WHAT?”  He asked surprised.  “When did this happen?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”  Dipper said as he wiped the cola off his shorts.  He was going to have to give these to Soos now too.

“I mean, since when?  I won’t pry in to the personal, oft times juicy details, but when did you start going out.”

Dipper sighed. “Remember the night that we met Mason?”

“Yea, that was a wild night too.”

“Well early that day Pacifica went missing and we went searching for her.  When I found her she… well she confessed to me.”

“Whoa, someone confessed to you?” Stan looked surprised.  “I guess this town really is the focal point for weird.”

Dipper shot him an annoyed look. “Hey, what’s that mean?”

“Er, nothing.” Stan replied as he tried to play it off. “So what are you going to do while they’re out tonight?”

Dipper thought about it.  He came up with a few ideas but none really that exciting.

“Does Soos have any movies around?  We could watch a few.”

Stan thought about it.  He wasn’t sure.  “Hey Soos!” he called out.

Moments later Soos ran around the corner. “What’s up dudes?”

“You got enough movies to make a boy’s movie night?”  He asked.

Soos brightened up.  “Oh you bet do I.  I’ve been waiting for this moment for a while!”

Soos ran back down the hall and returned with a big box of movies.  Picking through them they found a few old sci-fi flicks and horror films that would sate them for the night.

“Let me just help Melody to bed and we can make this a big movie night.  I’ll even get popcorn!”

Around 20 minutes later the boys were settling in, ready for their movie night.  Just as the beginning credits began to roll there was knock on the door.  Dipper hopped up to see who it was.  To his surprise Gideon was standing at the door.

“Gideon?  What are you doing here?”  He asked.

“Is Candy here?”  Gideon asked as he cautiously looked through the front door.

“No, and neither is Mabel.  They went out for a girls night out and then a slumber party.”

“Oh.” Gideon replied disappointed.  Dipper noticed that he was holding something in his hand.  Squinting to get a closer look he noticed two circus tickets.

“Gideon… What did you want Candy for.”

“Eh, um.” Gideon tried to search for an excuse. “We were, uh.”

“Did you want to take her on a date to the circus or something?”

“What? No, that’s just silly, why would I do that?”

“Cause you’re dating.” Dipper stated as a matter of factly.

“Whaaat?” He tried to play it off.

“What, I’m not wrong am I? I mean, you guys weren’t exactly subtle.  I saw the two of you kiss just about every night you left here after practice.” Dipper added.

“You saw that!” He panicked. “Did Mabel?”

Dipper shrugged. “Don’t know.  I mean, I don’t think she saw.  Why, didn’t you guys tell her?”

“I, we… no.  I wanted to protect her and I didn’t think telling her that her old worst enemy was dating her best friend was the best thing to do.”

Dipper rolled his eyes. “I…don’t think you were here _worst_ enemy.”

“Really?”  Gideon asked excited.

“Ye…yeah.  Sure.” He meekly replied.  “Well, goodnight.”

Dipper tried to close the door on Gideon but he put his foot in the way.

“So… what are you up to?” Gideon quietly asked.

Dipper sighed. “Were watching a move.  Would you like to join us?”  Dipper asked unenthusiastically.

“Oh my, I would love to!”  Gideon perked up.

Letting him in Gideon made his way over to one of the unused cushions on the floor and plopped down.

“Oh, hey Gideon.”  Stan acknowledged him.

“Good Evening Stanley.”

And with that the boy’s party took on another member as they started their first movie.  Plan Iota from Way Beyond!

 

* * *

 

Cutting the engine and whistling to herself Wendy took a look over the venue.

“It looks like one of the courses at the mini golf place!” Mabel chirped excitedly from the back.

“I mean, I guess it looks like a castle.  Still, it’s a bit small compared to what I’m used to.”  Pacifica added as she jumped from the cab.

“Oh, I hope I find a prince to sweep me off my feet.” Candy grasped her hands together and looked listfuly at the venue.

“Wait, don’t you have Gide….”  Wendy started.  Candy quickly stomped on one of Wendy’s feet and shot her a look. “Oww, sorry.”

Abby laughed. “You guys are funny.  So what is this place again?”

Looking over the venue the place was dressed up to look like a massive castle, moat and all.  The sign hung above the entrance telling all that the place was called “Ancient Times.”  A large gathering of people were walking into the venue as the girls started to make their way to the place.

“It’s a themed restaurant that has a show each night involving knights fighting in the arena.” Wendy explained.  “All the while you eat food like they did in the past.  Mutton and mugs full of soda!”

Excitedly Abby ran head and flipped around. “So we get to watch a bunch of heroes fighting!”

Wendy scratched her head. “We’ll I don’t know about the heroes part, I mean most of them are just minimum wage workers dressed up as squires, but we do get to see some cool horses in armor!”

Abby was even more excited at the mention of horses.  It seemed she had taken a liking to animals since she came to Gravity Falls.

As they got to the door Wendy pulled out the tickets and handed them over.

“Oh,” Pacifica said pulling out her purse. “How much do I owe you for those?”

Wendy shook her head. “Naa, they’re on the house.  Mayor Tyler got them for my dad so he could take us all out but my dad’s not been feeling it lately and my brothers don’t like this kind of stuff.”

“Why would he get your dad tickets to this?  Mabel asked.

Wendy shrugged as she handed over the tickets. “Don’t know.  They’ve been friends since they were kids so maybe this is just something they do for each other every once in a while.”

“It’s good to have a friend like that.” Candy commented.

“Yea,” Wendy agreed. “Tyler was there when Mom… we when mom passed.  I think he really helped dad cope with the loss.”

Following the ushers to their seats the girls saw that they were in the front row, center of the arena so they could easily see all the action.  Taking their seats they quickly started to read over the menu.

“Hmm, should I get the Mutton Chops or the Roast Lamb.” Mabel pondered.

“I bet it’s not even real mutton” Candy quipped.

“Heh, I don’t think the guys way back when drank Pitt Cola either.” Wendy joked.

As Pacifica read the menu she noticed Abby seemed to be having a hard time with hers.

“What are you thinking about ordering?” She leaned over and whispered.

Abby looked up to her with a look of panic on her face. “I don’t know what any of this is!”

Pacifica sighed.  If she hadn’t been there when Abby arrived she probably would have made a joke at her expense but seeing as she guessed that this girl was being honest she decided helping might be a better thing.

“Hmm.  Get the Mutton chops now and I’ll treat you to Roast Lamb later.  My mom cooks the best roast lamb.”  She pointed to the mutton chops with chips.

Abby smiled. “Thank you!  You’re so nice.”

Pacifica blushed a little at the compliment.  Sitting back she reread her own menu before decided to have the same thing. 

As the girls were reading their menu two more people sat down next to them in their row and picked up their menus.  Not really paying any attention to their seat mates the girls decided on their meals and put down the menus. 

“Oh” the Wendys said as their gazes met.

Everyone turned to see what was going on they quickly realized that Wendy was looking at Wendy, well her older self anyway.

“What is it?” Pacifica said as she put down her menu and noticed her younger self and friends. “Oh.”

“Pacifica! Wendy!” Abby cheered out with glee.

“Abby?” The older Pacifica noted confused.  “What, what are you guys doing here?”

“I was just about to ask the same thing.” Mabel squinted.  “Are you following us?”

The older Wendy held her finger up to her lips. “Shh.  Can you keep a secret?”  The girls nodded.  “We snuck out of the house.  Don’t tell Mason.”

“Okay” Abby replied, giving them a wink.

“Mason doesn’t let you out?” Wendy asked her older self.

The older Pacifica shook her head. “No, he does, he just doesn’t know we went here.”

“He thought we were going for a walk in the woods. He wants to keep us locked up and hidden.”  Wendy added looking to the arena.

“Hey, you know it’s not like that.” The older Pacifica chided her.

The older Wendy rolled her eyes. “Yea, I know.”  She sighed and mumbled. “Still feels like that sometimes.”

The conversation ended when the server came up to their row took their order.  He explained what to do if they needed a refill on drink or if they wanted something else.  Shortly after that the show began.

The “King” and “Queen” arrived and sat in the box just across from the gang.  The announcer introduced the six “knights” who were fighting over the queen’s favor that night.  Turning to each section he introduced the audience to the knight they would cheer for.

“And you, my fine squires,” he called out to their section. “You will be cheering for the plaid knight, Sir Roderick!” 

The knight who’s had a green and blue plaid tapestry rode up to the stands and raised his lance to Abby.  Abby looked to her friends to see what she should do.

“Will you cheer for me?” Sir Roderick asked as he held his lance in front of the young girl.

“Take the favor” Candy pointed to the ring with a plaid handkerchief on it.  Abby reached out and took it as Roderick lowered lance.  Turning his horse to the side so he could get close he leaned in.

“What’s your name miss?”

“Abby.” Abby replied.

“Fine name milady.”  He turned the horse and raised his voice. “Tonight I fight for the honor of Lady Abby!”

Their section cheered in response.   The remaining knights followed suite, giving favor to someone in the audience and generally raising the cheer of their section of the crowds.   The servers returned with some food and drinks as the first jousts began.

 

Back at the shack the first movie had ended with a lot more laughs than suspense.  Taking five to swap out drinks and pop more popcorn Dipper and Gideon looked through the selections as Soos and Grunkle Stan took care of the rest.

“How about this one?” Gideon asked holding up ‘It came from Lake Whatisit!’

“Naa, too corny.  We just finished a super old one.”

“Hmm.” Gideon pulled out one, flipping it over to read the description he showed it to Dipper. “What about this?”

Dipper looked at the movie, ‘The Cockroach’.  It was an eighties movie about a scientist who fuses with a cockroach after an accident. It didn’t look too scary but not to corny either.  Dipper shrugged.

“Yea, I think this works.”

Running over and replacing the tape in the machine he started it up and forwarded the tape to just beyond the previews.

As Soos and Stan rejoined them the heard the back door open.  

“Of course it makes sense Sherman, its math not magic.”

“Well it might as well be magic to me Ford.  I just don’t understand you three when you talk like that.”

Rounding the corner into the living room was Ford and Sherman, having just gotten back from working at the Manor.  Seeing everyone gathered in the living room gave the two pause.

“Was there a family meeting that I missed out on?” Ford asked as he looked to Sherman who shrugged.

Stan rolled his eyes. “No Poindexter were having a movie night.”  He looked to Dipper and Gideon. “What’d you to pick out?”

“’The Cockroach’.” Gideon replied. “When science goes wrong!”

Ford perked up. “A movie about science you say.”  He paused to think.  “Well, I think I may just join you.”

Stan shrugged. “Suit yourself.  How about you Sherman? Care to join us?”

Sherman looked at Dipper who was giving him an expectant look.  Sherman smiled.

“Why not, it’s not like I’m doing anything else.  Soos, scoot over there so I can slip in.”

“Sure thing Mr. Pines.”  Soos replied, moving his chair a few feet over while Sherman replaced it with one of his own.

And with that the boy’s movie night got a little bit bigger.

 

Several jousts in the Plaid Knight, Sir Roderick, had failed to win any of his bouts.  At the moment he was waiting to be called again as he stood mounted on his horse just in front of the girls.  Since the games weren’t going their way for their team they ended up chatting.

The elder Wendy and Pacifica seemed content to drink they soda and listen to their younger selves talk.  The conversation had, for the most part been about the wild things that had come up that summer or over the year, things they hadn’t really had a lot of time to discuss.

Finally getting antsy Mabel nudged Candy who nodded and scooted a little closer to Pacifica.

“So, has anything happened since then?”  She asked Pacifica very calmly.

“Huh? Oh, yea I guess, Daddy says that he’ll reconsider sending me to boarding school for a while longer.”  She replied.

“Oh, he’ll send you.” The older Pacifica quipped.  “Mason keeps saying our worlds are different but I can tell daddy didn’t change that much.”

The older Wendy nudged her and gave her an annoyed look.

“What?  He sent me and that made me a better person.” The older Pacifica retorted as she went for another sip.  Wendy rolled her eyes and went for a sip too.

Candy shook her head.  “No, I mean about the other thing.”

“What other thing?”  Pacifica asked.

Mabel sighed.

Candy spoke up. “You know, the thing.”

“What thing?”

Impatience finally caught up with her and Mabel blurted what she promised she wouldn’t.  “The thing about you dating my brother!”

PFFFFT

Two jet streams of cola shot out of the older girls’ mouths so hard that Sir Roderick turned to see why he was all of a sudden wet.

“WHAT!” Both ladies turned and asked in unison.

Pacifica shrank down in her seat at the gaze of her older self and her friends.

“Wait, you’re telling me I’m dating Dipper?”  The older Pacifica asked with amazement, eyes wide.

“I, that’s…” Pacifica buried her head in her hands as she turned beet red.

“Oh man, Mason told me this world was different but I didn’t think it would be that much.  Holy cow Pacifica” She turned to her older companion and started laughing.  “This is the wildest day ever.”

The elder Pacifica nodded. “Oh yea.  This takes the cake in weirdness.”

“Is it really that weird?”  Abby asked.

“Oh right, we never told you.”  Wendy cringed as she realized something.  “You wanna tell her?”

“Fine” Pacifica sighed. “Abby, remember how we told you when we went through that portal we would be in the past.”  Abby nodded. “Well the Dipper guy you hang out with is Mason’s younger self.”

Abby’s eyes widened. “OH!”  She looked to her other companions. “That must mean that you’re Mabel’s younger self.  And you must be Pacifica’s younger self.”

The older Wendy nudged her younger self. “Yup, and this is me when I was young.  Oh man how I miss those days!”

Abby turned to Candy and stared for a moment. “Wait, does that mean you’re Gideon when he was younger?”

Candy blushed as the other girls laughed.

“No, I don’t think you remember Candy.  She was a friend who didn’t…  She didn’t come with us.” The elder Wendy corrected.

Pointing between the Wendys and the Pacificas she called out their names.  “Wendy, Wendy, Pacifica, Pacifica.”  Ruffling her hair she let out an annoyed noise. “That’s too hard to remember.  What do I call everyone.”

“Hmm.  Well why don’t you just shorten my name to Dee when were together.”  The elder Wendy suggested.  She turned to Pacifica who shook her head and crossed her hands in an X.

“Oh no, you’re not going to…” 

“And you can call her Paz.”  Dee smirked.

“You know I hate that nickname.”

“Yup, but I don’t and we need to call you something or this is going to get confusing.”

“Fine, but only when were together.  I don’t want you to get used to it.”  Paz thought for a second.  “I say we call Gideon Giddy when they’re together.”

Smirking Dee nodded. “Oh yea, he’s going to love that one.”

Getting back to the task at hand Mabel asked Paz a question.

“So you never dated Dipper?”

Paz looked at Dee for a moment.

“Well, no.  It was six years before he came back to Gravity Falls.  Plus by the time I saw him he was already…”  She trailed off.

“Already what?” 

“Already dating me.”  Dee finished as she turned back to the younger girls.

The younger girls jumped back in shock at this revelation. 

“Whaaaaaa” Mabel’s jaw dropped.

“Dating… you _really_ going to call it that?” Paz chided her.

Dee put her head down on the table.  “I know… we rushed it a bit.” Raising her head up and stretching her arms out on the table she sighed. “But what can I say.  I knew he was the one.”

“ _What did you do_?”  Mabel asked slowly.

Wendy held up her left hand so all could see the back of her hand.  On her ring finger was a silver ring with a Pine tree etched into a small gem.

“We got married.”  She adjusted the ring with her thumb so it shifted on her finger.

Not one of the younger girls could say a word.  The only thing audible over the clanging of the gasp that came from Pacifica’s mouth.

Wendy turned to see that she was staring back, he face filled with a look of horror.

“I, I have to go.” She said as she got up and quickly left.

“Pacifica wait!” Wendy tried to catch her but she was too fast.  Stopping she dropped her shoulders.  “I… I’m going to go look for her, to clear this up.  You guys stay here and enjoy the show.”

“Wait!” Dee shouted before she could leave. “We’ll go too.  It’s our fault that this happened.”

“Right, let us help.” Paz added.  Turning to Mabel, Abby, and Candy she gave them instructions. “You guy stay here in case she comes back.”

The other three girls nodded as the elder girls ran off to look for their friend.

 

* * *

 

After confirming she hadn’t left with the staff the girls broke apart in hopes of finding her faster.  Wendy chose to try the employee tunnels while the other two took different locations.  After getting a few hints that Pacifica had come this way at some point she began searching rooms.

Happening upon an equipment storage room she hit the jackpot.  Sitting by herself just beside a large suit of armor Pacifica had her head buried in her legs and was sobbing gently.  Sighing quietly Wendy walked over and took her seat next to her friend.

“I’m sorry.”  Pacifica said, barely audible. “I didn’t mean to steal him.”

“Wait, that’s what this is all about?  You thought you stole Dipper?”  Wendy laughed as she let her head fall back on the wall.  “Oh girl, you got it wrong, all wrong.”

“Huh?”  Pacifica looked up at Wendy. “Don’t you like him.”

Wendy paused to think.  Squinting as she looked at the ceiling the spoke up.  “Maybe?  I don’t know.  I guess there might have been something, you know, right after Weirdpocolype.”

“Then I did take him from you.”  She put her head back in her knees.

“No way.  Actually I think it was the opposite.”  Wendy looked down at Pacifica and patted her on the head.  “I think, if anything I would be stealing Dipper from you now if I tried.”

“What?” Pacifica said as she brushed Wendy’s hand off her head. “He likes you and that’s what matters.  I just butted in.”

“Oh yea?  I bet you’re wrong.” She stared off into the distance.  “He gave me my hat back this year.”

“So?  It’s just a hat.  I’ve got a million of them.”

“Yea, but this one was special.  I gave it to Dipper when he left last year.  In a way I think it symbolized the feelings we kept for each other.”  She took a breath.  “But he gave it back and that was it.  I think he was over me, over last year.”

“So… you mean he was…”

“He was ready for something else.”  She paused. “You know, you never did tell me how he confessed to you, or even why you like him.”

Blushing and trying to bury her head further down Wendy started to connect the dots.

“Wait… No way…  You’re the one who confessed!”  She could hear an audible ‘eep’ from Pacifica.  She started to laugh. “Of course it was you!  Dipper not the kind of person to confess to someone unless their life is in danger.”

“How is that funny?” Pacifica looked up.

“Oh, it’s not.  It’s just the fact that you’re a way braver girl than I am.”  She lightly punched Pacifica on the shoulder.

“How so?”

“Because it took me six years to admit that I loved him.”  A voice came through the doorway.  “I couldn’t tell him I liked him until nearly a month after he came back to Gravity Falls.”

Paz and Dee joined the two in the room as Paz shut the door behind them.

“I mean, after I did it was really fast, a whirlwind romance of sorts.”  Dee admitted as she sat down across the room on a crate.  “To be frank, I think we went to fast.  It wasn’t even a month before we… well before we were intimately dating.”

“As I recall it Dipper was ready to propose after just a day later.”  Paz added.

“Yea, but he waited until just before the end of summer, which was sweet of him.” Dee looked at Pacifica.  “Pacifica, you’re not the same as Paz and Dipper’s not the same as Mason, I’ve already learned that.  You gotta be your own girl and forge your own path.”

“You mean it?” Pacifica asked.

“Yea, otherwise you live with regrets.”  She looked around at the other three.  “Don’t tell Mason this but… I do wonder sometimes if we hadn’t gotten together, what life would have been like.  Take your time with what you do and, if nothing else, find a good way to end if it doesn’t work out.”

Dee’s words of wisdom silenced the room as everyone processed it.  After a moment Paz broke the silence with a giggle.

“It still seems weird to hear that I’m dating someone like Dipper, but then again I don’t think I would be completely opposed to it.”

“PAZ!” Dee shouted surprised.

“What?  You knew well and good that I liked him too the first year he was here but you got to him first.  It just happens this time I struck first.”

Looking at each other both women broke out into a chuckle.

“Yea, I guess that’s the case, wasn’t it.”  Dee looked at her younger self.  “So, tell me, do you have feelings for him?”

Wendy paused.  She looked down at Pacifica who seemed to be waiting on the edge of her seat at the response.  She thought about it, did she actually have feelings for Dipper?

Well, he was actually a really cool kid to hang out with and Mabel was awesome too.  He saved her a bunch of times and stuff, plus when they worked together it made working at the shack more bearable.  He made her laugh, he made her happy.   But still with all that there was _something_ that just didn’t sit with her.

She thought back to when she saw him earlier today.  For such a skinny kid his muscles were starting to show a lot of tone.  Dipper was growing up, and fast.  ‘ _Wait_ ,’ she thought. ‘ _he’s still a kid.  That’s what feels off, that’s what’s different between her and her future self.’_

Wendy took a deep breath.  “Nope, Dipper’s a kid to me still.” She looked her other self in the eyes, knowing she would understand.  “I’m just not attracted to him.”

She smiled as she turned to Pacifica.  She didn’t lie with what she said, per se.  She realized that she may have had feelings for him but those were more like a kid sibling rather than a lover.  Pacifica finally seemed to be placated by this.

“So you don’t feel bad that were dating?”  Pacifica asked.

Wendy shook her head. “Nope… but if I were you I’d take it a little slower than Ms. Marriage over there.  Get to know him before you jump into something so serious will ya?  He’s a cool guy, he’s just a bit weird.”

Standing up Wendy offered Pacifica her hand.  Looking at it Pacifica hesitated but then smiled and took it.  Slipping a little as she rose she bumped into the armor set that was right behind her.

“Oops.” She yelped as she nearly knocked it over.  Thankfully she only managed to pull some cloth strips that had been on it off.  Dee and Paz made their way to the door.

“Uhh… guys.”  Wendy said as she looked at the armor. 

A sign in front explicitly stated to not touch the armor. Of course since Pacifica had explicitly, though accidentally, done just that. Wendy noticed the armor start to change.  The eye slits were now glowing as if they had two red eyes.  The armor began to rattle as it came to life.

Pacifica and Wendy backed away as Paz and Dee turned around.

“What?  Why is one here?”  Paz asked, surprised.

“Don’t know, don’t care.  Wendy, Pacifica, you two get out of here.  We’ll take care of this thing.”  Dee said as she threw the door open and pointed for them to leave.  Not really sure what was going on the two younger girls ran out the door and back into the hallway.

The armor pulled a sword from a nearby rack and swung it at Dee who ducked out the doorway with Paz. 

“Crud,” Dee snarled as she reached for her axe, “Why did I leave it at home.”

Looking to Paz who just shook her head the two got ready to face off with the armor alone.

“Now look who we have here!”  A voice came from behind.

Dee clicked her teeth and Paz groaned.  Jumping back they saw Gideon, their Gideon, standing at the end of the hallway.

“Now I go out on a mission and what do I find, two lovely ladies strolling through the woods.”

“Cram it Giddy, we’ve got bigger problems!”  Dee snapped.

“Giddy? Why are you calling me Giddy?”  He replied confused.

“Not the time, we’ve got a problem here.” Paz chided the two.

The armor made its way into the hallway, now equipped with a shield and sword.

“Oh, well I see you’re in a bit of a spot here.”  Gideon quipped.

“We can handle it.”  Wendy replied.

“Really now? And how do you expect to do that without these?”  Gideon threw a pair of cloth wrapped items at the girls’ feet.

Dee quickly unwrapped hers to find her axe.  Flipping it around the head lit in blue flame as her eyes whitened out.

“Oh yea, that’s what I’m talking about.”  She said grasping the handle with both hands.

“Thank you Gideon.” Paz said as she unwrapped her package, a pair of gauntlets.  Putting them on a smooth sheen of energy encased her.  “Now, would you like to help us out or are you just here to watch.”

Gideon smiled as he removed his eye patch.  “Oh, I think you know the answer to that.” His eye opened to reveal a yellow eye with a black slit vertical for a pupil.  Raising his right hand up he conjured a bluish fireball.  “I believe this constitutes the end of the entertainment and beginning of the fun!”

 

Paz and Dee, having met them a short while later, told the girls that they took care of the thing and to not worry about what it was.  They gave one last thumbs up to Pacifica about her situation before they the girls left in Wendy’s truck on their way to the Shack.

As they drove on Pacifica and Wendy took the cab while Mabel, Abby, and Candy were talking quietly in the back.  Wendy shut the back window so they could talk privately on their way back.

“So, how you holding up?” Wendy asked.

“Good I guess.” Pacifica replied.  “Lots of surprises tonight.”

“Ye..yeah.” Wendy replied, thinking of the revelation about her older self.  “You know, I never did hear the answer to the question I asked.”

“Which one?” She turned to look out the back.  The others in the bed either hadn’t noticed that the window was closed or didn’t care, they seemed to be in their own world with their conversation.

“What is it that you like about him.”

Turning back Pacifica blushed as she thought of the reasons. “Well…”  She tried to explain but couldn’t find the words.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want.  I’m not Mabel, I’m not going to force you.”

Pacifica sighed.  If anyone could understand the reasons it was probably Wendy.  Smiling she tried again.

“Dipper… Dipper changed my life.  In the past it was if I had one path to walk on, one destination to reach but he changed all that.  Ever since he tried to expose my family for not founding the town I thought he was just a pain in my side but the more I was with him the more I realized that he… he made a positive change in my life.”

She leaned back in the seat and looked at the top of the cab.  There were a bunch of dents were in the roof where someone had punched. 

“He changed me.  He showed me how to defy my parents, he showed me how to act on my own, he showed me how to appreciate myself.”

“Wow, that’s deep.”

Pacifica laughed. “I know it sounds stupid but he made me love who I was.  I think that’s the reason I…”

“You what?”  Wendy egged her on.

Blushing again she quietly finished.  “I love him.”

Wendy didn’t say a word.  She let Pacifica have the moment. 

“I love him” She said, louder this time.

“Well there you have it then.  You’re a better woman than I am. You can admit when you love someone.”

Pacifica didn’t respond.  She could have made a snarky comment, she could have said something mean about how she was right.  Instead she held back.  For once in her life she had something in common with someone, other than the apocalypse of course.  For the first time, she had someone she could call a friend.

 

As they pulled up to the shack they quietly snuck in the doorway.  A quick glance over was a sight to see.  Soos, Dipper, Ford, Stan, Gideon, and Sherman were all out cold while the end credits of some movie played on the screen.

“Aww they fell asleep watching movies!” Mabel quietly pointed out. 

Quietly making their way up the stairs the girls went up, all except Pacifica.  She stood for a moment and looked at Dipper who was quietly sleeping in the chair with Stan.  Very carefully she snuck into the room and up to Dipper.  She smiled as he whimpered a little in his sleep.

“Goodnight my prince” She quietly said to herself as she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead.

As quickly and quietly as she entered she exited.  She knew she would have to answer some questions when she went upstairs, but _this time,_ she was ready for them.

 

* * *

 

Excerpt: Journal 6 – June 22, 2018 – Hey journal, you’re not going to believe what I saw last night!  Mason and Wendy were at the old lumber mill again and they we’re getting… (the rest of the page was covered in layers of white out).

Mabel!  What did I tell you about writing gossip the journal!

What? Come on!  Admit it!  You love Wendy!

Fine, I will put in the journal for all to see, on this date I started dating Wendy!  Now will you stop writing this stuff in the journal?

When’s the Wedding?

MABEL!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well these are coming a long much faster than I expected. Guess this is what a little pre-planning does to the creative proces. I might even have the season finale done in a month or two at this rate.
> 
> A quick interjection on that, while I said I was going to do 25 "episodes" I might expand that to include one more of shot somewhere around 20-21. This would be an anthology episode with some ideas I had that were rejected from the overall series (Mostly for time or not enough content). Hope you like that when it comes up.
> 
> This may sound dumb but I was actually tepid about releasing this episode so soon after the last as there is a certain reoccurring plot element that I keep using (Person X runs away/ gets kidnapped so others must search for them.) but as of right now all i can do until I think of something else is go "these things happen." At least they are different in their methodology and somewhat exciting (I hope).
> 
> P.S. Yes, just like at Disney I made modified references to things so I could use them. Both movies are real moves I translated to something usable. Think of that as your cipher for the episode (not that I've been remembering to do them recently.)


	17. Making of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disney heads to the set of Gravity Falls to see how the show is made!

“Gravity Falls is recorded in front of a live studio audience.”

The lights come up on the Family Room.  Stan was sitting in his recliner wearing only his hat, boxers, and an undershirt.   Dipper and Mabel came running down the stairs and stood just to Stan’s right.

Stan chuckled. “Ha ha, I need you to laugh at this with me!”  He pointed to the TV.

Little Gideon was on the screen holding a baby blue guitar and singing in a prarie. “Who’s cute as a button, and always your friend? Lil’ G-I-D to the E-O-N!  Wink!” Gideon put his hands on his cheeks and winked at the viewer.

“Lil Gideon” Bud narrated.

“Ugh, Gideon!” Dipper shuddered.

“Remember when I wouldn’t date him and he tried to destroy us?”  Mabel asked as she took a glance at her brother.

“He’s always trying to trick me into losing the Mystery Shack!” Stan added as he waved his arm.

“One time I caught him stealing my conditioner.” Wendy walked in and leaned on the recliner.

“And yet our mutual hatred for him bonds us together.” Soos held out his arms as he walked in.

Several people laughed just out of view.

On the TV Gideon giggled as a flock of eagles flew behind him.  “Come on down to Lil Gideon’s tent of telepath.” Bud narrated again as the screen switched to a picture of the Shack. The tent of telepath fell down, crushing the shack beneath it. “Opening soon at this location!”

“Uh,” Dipper cocked and eyebrow and looked at Stan. “Should we be worried about that?”

“Please,” Stan waved it off. “The only way Gideon is taking over this Shack is by breaking in and stealing my deed.”

A loud crash of glass breaking could be heard from another room.

“You mean like… right now?”  Wendy asked, as she looked to the others for affirmation of what she just heard.

The audience chortled.

“AND CUT!”  Called the director.  “That’s lunch everyone!”

The camera backed up revealing the living room to be a large set.  Stan stood up and stretched out while Dipper and Mabel high fived.  Wendy and Soos walked over to the catering table.

Pulling back further it revealed a young teen holding a large mic with a mouse’s head emblem on the cover.

“Hey everyone this is Phil and I’m on the set of Disney’s Gravity Falls.  Today we’re going to take a behind the scenes look at what it takes to make this exciting show!”

Abby looked away from the monitor where she watching the action unfold and looked at the set before her. “What’s going on?” she quietly whispered to herself.

Fade to Title.

 

The screen came back from black as Dipper sat across from Phil in directors chairs. 

“You ready?” Phil asked Dipper.  “I know you’ve got a full day of filming ahead if you want to take a break.”

“Oh yea, I’ll be fine.   I’ve got a break coming up after this anyway while they film Alex and Kristen’s scenes.”

“Okay, let’s get started then!”

The card on the screen showed that it was ‘Dipper Pines played by Jason R’. Phil perked up and pulled out several note cards.

“So Jason, great work on the show so far.”  Phil started.

“Thanks” Dipper replied.

Dipper closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  Blinking he nodded for Phil to continue.

“So, what’s it like being Dipper Pines?”

“Oh man it’s a blast!  Dipper’s such a cool character.  He’s smart, funny, and gets to go on so many adventures!”

“I bet!” Phil added. “So, what’s it like working with everyone?”

Dipper flipped back with a smile.  “Super awesome!  Kristen is a just the funniest person I’ve ever met and the Alexes – oh man can they work together.”

“That’s right; there are a few Alexes on the show.  Does that get confusing?”

“Pfft, no!  The Alex that plays Soos is real chill about everything and the Alex that plays Stan is super into acting so it’s easy to tell which one’s someone’s talking about.  It’d be like working with three Chrises, one who acts, one who is a dork, and one who’s a hunk.  They’re all different.”

“Well, thank you for your time Jason and good luck on your big scene today!”

“Thanks man.” Dipper said as she jumped up.  “It’s gonna be great!”

Abby shook her head as she watched him get up through the monitor.  “What’s going on Dipper?  Why are you talking like that?”

The picture faded out and when it came back Mabel was now sitting in the chair where Dipper had.  She sat in a very relaxed manner, almost as if she didn’t care that she was there.  The card beneath her read ‘Mabel Pines played by Kristen S’.

“So Kristen, what drove you to try out for this role?”

“Hmm.” She thought about it for a moment. “I think it was the fact that, when I read the spec script, the character really jumped out at me.  Once I read just how cute and cuddly she was I had to have her… and I always get what I want.”

“Well you do a really good job brining out her excited nature.”

“Thanks! I really wanted a role like a child star all grown and washed up but this role was even better!”

“So, let me ask, what would Mabel tell all the girls out there who want to go adventures like hers.”

Mabel smiled and pushed in her dimples as she looked in the camera.  “Don’t be afraid to try things just cause they look scary.  And if you can, get a brother with a magic journal!”  She giggled as she finished.

Phil chuckled.  “Well you heard it straight from the source.  Thanks for talking with us Kristen!”

“No Problem.  See ya laters!”  She replied as she jumped up.

“That’s not how Mabel acts!”  Abby pouted as she stamped her foot in defiance.

The screen faded again.  Abby looked over from where she was standing to see what was going on.  A large group of stagehands were replacing the set with one that looked like an office.  They were wheeling in a large safe prop for the next shot.  She looked over at the screen again as the picture came back up.

Stan grunted as he took his seat. “Ah, this isn’t easy as it used to be.”  He laughed as he slipped on the chair a little.  Stan’s voice was less like how Abby remember, he sounded way more elegant that he normally did – way more fancy.

“Take your time; we can start when you’re comfortable.”  Phil told him.

Stan adjusted a few times before nodding for Phil to begin.

“Were back with THE Stan Pines, how are you doing Alex?”  Phil motioned to Stan.  The card under him said “Stanford Pines played by Alex H.”

“Oh good, good.  Lots going on today so it’s been a lively day.”  Stan replied. 

“So Stan.  Rumor has it you were the only person that the show creator was willing to bring on for this role, can you tell me if that’s true?”  Phil asked.

Stan motioned to zip his lips.  “Sorry, that’s one of the big mysteries of the show.” He laughed. “I’m kidding of course.  Was I the only person, I don’t know.  I’m Shakespearian trained so doing a sitcom like this is a bit... different that what I’m used to. Then again when I got the call from the show creator how could I say no?”

“Just to clarify the show creator Alex Hirsch, who is your…”

“Grandson, yes they named the boy after me.  Ah, I couldn’t say no to the lad.  He told me that the character was specifically written based on me.”  Stan chortled. “Then again, I don’t remember being a bit of a ninny like Stan is.”

“Well you do help to bring out the best in Stan.  With that said a lot of the internet is asking questions about the mysteries of the show.  One such question they’re asking is who really is Stan Pines?  Many people think you may be not what you seem.  Care to elaborate?”

“I wish I could” Stan shrugged. “But just like you I don’t know what’s happening until it happens.  We’ll just have to wait and see what mysteries are uncovered in the last two episodes of the season!”

“Well thank you again for letting us ask and please, keep up the good work!”  Phil concluded.

“Oh my pleasure.  Please continue to enjoy this work as much as I have enjoyed making it.” Stan replied as he stood up.

Abby shook her head as she watched the interview.  “This is just too weird.”

The screen faded again.  Abby scratched her head as she looked around again. She didn’t see anyone she knew, just a bunch of crew.  Pouting she turned back to the screen as the picture returned.

A young redheaded man with a thin beard and goatee sat down in the chair.  His striking plaid flannel shirt and an Ushanka hat gave him away as an oddity on the set, yet most of his fans would see his clothing as iconic at this point.

“Alex Hirsch, one again thanks for joining us and thanks for making this amazing show.” Phil started.

The card under the man said ‘Alex Hirsch – Show Creator’

“Oh my pleasure, and always nice to meet a fan.” He smiled in return.

“So tell us, how did you come up with Gravity Falls?”

Alex chuckled.  “Well it’s all true.  Okay maybe about 90% of it… 80%… 40%… 70%?”  He laughed again. “Well, it really is based on when my twin sister and I would go up to Oregon and spend times with our Great Aunt.  I guess not all of our adventures were as wacky as those on the show but we did have really exciting time.”

“Many fans are asking questions about this show and the mysteries that are surrounding it. Would you care to give us a bit of a spoiler to some?”

“Well I could, but then again half the fun is figuring it out yourself!  We have a lot of mysteries that are going to wrap up here in the last two episodes but _way_ more that are coming for our second season.  I’ve even got a few in the back of my head for the third season.”

“Third season, that’s forward thinking.  So how far do you think you’ll take Gravity Falls?”

Alex thought. “Honestly, I don’t know.  I have a bunch planned but a summer can only last so long.  Maybe we’ll see a later season with the characters older, who knows?”

“Wow, it sounds like you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you.  Well then, I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thanks!”  Alex said as he got up and shook Phil’s hand.

Phil turned into the screen.  “When we come back, we’ll see more of the creative process from the start in the writers’ room to the finish on the big screen!”

The monitor faded to black again as Abby stepped back.  She decided she would need to look around if she was going to get to the bottom of what was happening.  As she walked out of the studio and by the trailers she heard voices coming from one of them.  The trailer was full of adults going over sheets of paper.  She didn’t really pay much attention to what they were saying as she didn’t see anyone she knew but she kept hearing talk of some ‘Big fight scene’ and how they were going to pull it off. 

Worried by what that meant, but deciding that she had other priorities right now she kept going down the pathway until she ended up in what looked like a row of dressing rooms.  Not recognizing the names on the doors she thought to herself.

“What did they call him…” She scrunched up as she tried to remember.  Her mental light bulb coming on she looked around for the door. “This one!”  She said as she opened the door marked Jason.

The room was small, with just a small table, couch, make-up dresser, and chair with barely enough room to walk between them.  In the chair at the dresses sat Dipper.  He was currently engrossed in his phone while listening to something through his headphones.  Abby slowly closed the door behind her and crept up to Dipper.

“Dipper” She whispered. Not responding she tried louder. “Dipper!”

He turned to her and popped his head phones out. “Oh, uh, hello… Are you one of the crew’s kids?”

He hopped off the chair and grabbed a pen from the table.

“Did you want me to sign something for you or did you just want to chat?  I don’t have too long before the next scene so it’s gotta be short if we do.”

“Dipper what are you talking about?”

“Dipper?  You can just call me Jason when were not filming.  I mean, _If_ you really need to call me Dipper I guess that’s fine.”  Dipper turned and walked over to the couch.  Plopping down he pulled out his phone again and started to mess with it.

“Snap out of it Dipper!”  Abby called out to him as she tried to grab his vest.

“What?  Are you okay?” Dipper asked as he batted her grab, rising up to meet her.

“Please!  I don’t like it here!  I wanna go back to the shack!” She said, nearly to tears.

“I think she’s crazy” Dipper mumbled under his breath. “Listen, there is no shack, it’s just a place on TV alright.  It’s all fake!  I’m sorry I’ve gotta break it to you like that but my names Jason and this…”

SMACK

She slapped him, hard.  Dipper immediately clasped his cheek that was now red hot with pain.  Looking back he gave the girl a confused and fearful look at the girl who was heaving from the exertion.

“Yes there is!  It’s all real!  This isn’t real!  I want to go home now!”  Abby shouted as she clenched her fists to her side.

“I, uh…”

“Mason would have figured this out by now!”  She exclaimed.

Dipper’s head flashed with searing pain.  It wasn’t pain from the slap it was something else.  A spear-like pain that drove deep in his brain.  He staggered around for a moment while looking at her.  He realized it was what she had said.  Why did he know that name?  She watched as he nearly fell over before getting an idea.

“Mason.” She called and he grasped his head harder. “Mason, Mason, Mason, Mason.”

He nearly fell over from the pain.

“MASON!”

“Stop calling me by my first name!”  Dipper found himself shouting.  He paused, shocked at the knowledge he had just unlocked.  Looking around to the unfamiliar room Dipper looked back at Abby. “Abby, where are we?  We were in the living room and you and Mabel were playing… OW” He grasped his head again in pain.

She grew a big smile as she jumped him. “Finally you remember!”  She hugged him tight, happy she had gotten her friend back.

 

* * *

 

Giving Dipper a few moments to sit down Abby stood and counted her fingers as she tried to recall what had happened.  She and Mabel were trying to watch TV when the antennae went on the fritz.  Mabel tried to fix it but had no luck.  Deciding that Grunkle Ford probably had something in his lab that would work the two of them snuck down there. 

Finding Ford asleep they quietly searched the lab and found what looked like a cable box.  Returning to the living room Mabel went to work hooking it up to the back of the TV when Dipper arrived and stood in front of the TV with Abby.

“And then you said something about not messing with Grunkle Ford’s stuff and Mabel didn’t care and she hit a button and there was a bright flash from the TV and we got sucked in and then we were here.” Abby finished explaining.

“Okay, I sorta remember that part where we got sucked into the TV,” He looked around at his surroundings again.”But where are we now?”

“Uh, I think someone said it was a TV studio.  Something about shooting a TV show?”  She replied as she plopped down next to him.

“Okay, that explains nothing.” He rubbed his forehead.  Stopping and looking at what he was wearing he flipped his vest open.  “That’s weird… I haven’t worn this vest since last year.”

Looking up the mirror his eyes widened.  Rushing up to check himself out he got a panicked look in his eyes.

“No… this can’t be happening!”

“What?”

“I… I’m 12 again!”

Indeed, at a closer glance Dipper indeed looked like he was twelve again, just at the cusp of teenhood.  His height was a little smaller and the little bit of muscle he developed was gone.

“What, what show were they shooting?”  He could barely ask as he slowly turned back around.

“Umm.  I think they called it Gravity Falls.”

“Okay, so they named it after the town, great.”  He paused and looked down, thinking. “Twelve again, Gravity Falls, hmm.”  He looked back up. “Abby, did I do anything on this show?”

Abby nodded. “Yup, you and Mabel, and Wendy, and Soos, and Grunkle Stan were all laughing at Gideon on TV for some reason.  Then there was a bang and the director yelled CUT real loud.”

“Laughing at Gideon, hmm, well that doesn’t narrow it down any. Did we say anything specific?”

“We’ll Mabel talked about how Gideon wanted to date her.”

“Uh huh.”

“And Wendy talked about him stealing her conditioner.”  Abby added as she ruffled her hair.

“Right… anything else?”

“Umm, umm, oh!  Grunkle Stan said that if Gideon wanted some deed thing he would have to steal it.  That was when I heard the crash.”

“Deed… hmmm.  It can’t be…” Dipper flipped around, looking for something.  Landing on a script setting on a small table he grabbed it and read the title.  “Mindscapers?  I hope this isn’t what I think it is.”

He started to leaf the script, getting more frantic as he got further.

“What is it?” Abby asked.

“Oh no.” He stopped at the end.  “This is the time we fought Bill in Grunkle Stan’s mind.  We barely beat him too.”

“Oh!” Abby sounded surprised.  She looked around and back to Dipper. “Who’s Bill?”

“Um, Bill’s this big triangle demon we fought a few times last year.  He nearly ended the world but we barely managed to stop him.”

“Okay, and do you beat him here?”

Dipper held up the script. “I don’t know.  Part of the script is missing.”

A gentle knock on the door preceded a voice calling out.

“Jason, they’re ready for you again.  You’re needed on set in 3 minutes.”  The voice came through the door.

Dipper and Abby looked at each other.

“What are we going to do?”  She asked.

“Okay.”  Dipper calmed himself. “I think I remember all of what happened.  For now I think I should go through with this episode they are writing.  Once it’s done it might send us back to the real world.”

Abby nodded. “Okay.  What do I do?”

Dipper pondered it.  “Since you weren’t here yet you’ll have no lines or anything on the show.”  He snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it.  Take a look around and try to find if there is an exit we can use just in case this doesn’t work!”

Nodding excitedly Abby yelped out a “Roger!”

Another knock on the door and the same voice from before told them that it was one minute till they needed him on set.

“Good luck Abby!”  Dipper waved to her as he ran for the door.

“Good luck Dipper!”  She said as she watched him go.  Shutting the door behind him she looked around. “Now what to do.”

She glanced around the room looking for inspiration on how to start.  Landing on the make-up dresser she noticed a few brands that she hadn’t seen before.  Picking one up he looked around the room to see if anyone was there.

“Well he didn’t say _how_ to look for the exit.”  She smirked as she unscrewed the bottle.  "Maybe, just a quick peak before I go."

 

* * *

 

“AND ACTION!” the director called out.

“No Butts, now go chop that firewood already!”  Stan smacked the head of Dipper with a rolled up newspaper as he pointed out into the yard.  We it was Dipper body double for the shot at least.  Dipper was currently standing the doorway with a big green piece of felt taped to his chest to represent where Bill had put a hole through him last year.

Dipper watched as Stan sat next to Soos on the porch couch.   He sighed to himself as he remembered the scene.  He would see this, then get mad, then come back and find out that Stan really felt bad for him.  It annoyed him that he was reliving this moment of his life, but he had to do it if they were to get out of here.

Thinking on it further he did have to admit to himself that he did owe Grunkle Stan a lot.  If he hadn’t pushed him so far during the summer there would have been no way that he would have stopped Bill, let alone Gideon last year.  Stan’s insistence that he do things that were just beyond his ability _was_ the reason he can do those things now.  Dipper realized he never actually thanked Stan for helping him out so much.

“Dude, Stan, I’ve been meaning to ask you.  Why are you so hard on Dipper all the time?”  Soos asked Stan who was sitting next to him. 

“Look, Soos, I’m gonna let you in on something.  Wanna know what I really think?”  Stan asked as he leaned in to Soos to whisper.

Dipper rolled his eyes.  He knew what Stan was going to say before he even said it.  This memory was quite vivid.  He even started to mumble what Stan was saying under his breath.

“The kid’s a loser. He’s weak! He’s an utter embarrassment! I just wanna get rid of him.” Stan whispered.

Dipper recalled what Stan would say later about those insults. “Yea, well those were just things they told you.” Dipper caught himself saying out loud.

“CUT!”  The bell rang as the cameras stopped.  The director looked straight at him.

“What was _that_?  You don’t have a line here, your just suppose to close the door.”

Flushed red Dipper realized that he had stood up for himself when he hadn’t before.

“I, I’m sorry.  I wasn’t thinki…”

“Wait.” A man wearing plaid flannel stood up.  “I liked that.  Dipper snaps back at Stan.”  The man opened his script and flipped through it.  Writing something down quickly he turned back to the director.  “Let’s keep that line in.  At worst we’ll edit it out in post.”

The director shrugged.  “Fine by me, it’s your show.”  He raised his voice so all could hear. “Alright people, let’s do part 2 on this set.”

“Part 2?” Dipper asked.

The man in flannel nodded. “Yea, when you go back through that door and hear the rest of the story.”

Dipper nodded and closed the door.

“Alright, we’ll take it from line 618.” The director shouted. “Quiet on the set…. And Action!”

“Heh, yea.  Those are all things people said about me when I was a boy.”

Dipper opened the door again. “Huh?”

“It was terrible.  I was the biggest wimp on the playground!”  Stan elaborated.  He paused for a moment, tapping his hand six time on the couch arm.  “You see it?  That’s why I’m hard on Dipper.  To toughen him up.  So when the world fights, he fights back.”

“Do you think it’s actually working?” Soos asked.

Without a word Stan pointed to the Dipper’s body double who chops the wood in two.  Stan pauses another moment, tapping his hand six times again.

“He’s really comin’ along! When push comes to shove, I’m actually proud of him.  Just… don’t ever tell him that.  His head is big enough as it is.”

Soos laughed. “That’s true.”

Dipper remembered that he was supposed to fall forward accidentally and that would start the conversation but for some reason he decided against it. There was something else he had really wanted to say to Stan for a while and even though this world wasn’t real it was real enough that he decided to do it.

Stepping forward into Dipper quickly spoke before Stan had a chance.  “Thanks Grunkle Stan, for everything.” 

“What, I, that’s not the…”

“I know you were hard on me for a reason.  I know it was because you were just trying to toughen me up. If you hadn’t helped shape me into the man I am today, I wouldn’t be here.”

Stan looked around worried, not sure how to react to the improvised line.  The director shook his head and inhaled to shout only to find the flannel man’s hand in front of his face.

“Wait.” The man whispered, his eyes locked to Dipper.

“If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be half the person I am now.  I’d be this little scrawny kid with no skills, no confidence, and no future.  I’d be a loser who couldn’t even stand up for himself.”

The man in flannel grabbed his hat and bit into it as he took in the emotion.

“I really love you Grunkle Stan.  Just… don’t tell the real one that.”  Dipper smiled.

Stan looked around, trying to figure out what to do next.  Noticing the felt on Dipper chest he tired to recover.

“No problem.  Here, let me help you with that.”  He waited for Dipper’s line but when it didn’t come he pressed forward.  “Word to the wise, kid.  We’re in the mind!  You can do whatever you imagine in here!”

Stan held his hand out where a Pitt Cola that had been hanging in a green felt sleeve and it dropped into his hand.  Popping it open he took a sip.

Dipper grinned. “Yea, I know.”

Explosion, zapping noises and Mabel and Soos shouting were heard back through the doorway.

“Well, I guess it’s time to do this again.  Thanks for everything Grunkle Stan.” Dipper nodded as he turned and ran back through the door.

“Huh, Fighting Back.” Stan said as he looked back and took another drink.

“AND CUT.” The director finally called out.   He sighed and looked at the flannel man. “Satisfied?”

The man held his hat just under his chin.  In a high pitched whisper he managed, “Yesssssss.”

 

After three more scenes and plenty of reshoots of the hallway scenes Dipper was exhausted.  They had told them to take a break while they prepared the final shot for the day in the other studio.  Taking his cue he shuffled around the back of the set for a few moments of privacy. 

Ending up by one of the far catering tables he stopped when something caught his eye.  Looking down he noticed a tabloid paper lying on the table with a picture of Mabel and himself on the cover.  Honestly he would have passed it up had he not noticed _what_ they were doing on the cover.  It showed himself and his sister locked in a lovers kiss.

Dipper shuddered at the image.  Why would he _ever_ kiss is sister like that, it was disgusting.  Thumbing to the article he read a paragraph.

‘Stars of Gravity Falls Jason and Kristen were caught on their date at the Le Resort restraint by a lucky passerby.  The two seemed to joke around over steak and wine.  The desert it seemed was a bit hot and heavy as the two made out shortly before leaving in Jason’s car.’

‘Wait,’ Dipper though, ‘I have a car?’

Grabbing his phone and looking the show up he found that he and his sister were actually played by older actors.  Scrolling down he looked at their exact ages and gaped when he realized Mabel was two years older than him.  If Mabel heard about that she would never let him hear the end of it.

Putting his phone away Dipper affirmed he _REALLY_ needed to get out of this place and never speak of this again. 

 

* * *

 

After deciding that Dipper had some really cool make-up, but at the same time deciding she didn’t like the color, Abby returned to her search for, well, whatever she needed to find as an exit.  Wandering around the lot she followed some of the stagehands who were setting up the big finale scene in another studio.  Wandering in she saw the room looked like one big platform setting in the middle of the air. 

She grabbed one of the people who was getting ready to leave she tried to ask them what this room was.

“Uh,” The stagehand looked up. “They’re going to have the final battle against Bill in here.  Look I’ve got to go, just don’t touch anything.”

And with that the worker quickly left the room leaving Abby to herself with a big giant platform.  Deciding that looking at one side of it wasn’t going to get her anywhere she started to make her way around.  Reaching the other side she noticed there was a large costume container.  Pulling it open she saw a big yellow triangle with a zipper down the middle.

“Oh! Costumes!” She chirped excitedly. 

 Looking around to make sure no one was there she unzipped the opening.  Stepping inside she barely fit but she managed to get it closed.  Whoever this costume was meant for was not a big person at all.  Plus with only a single eye slot in the middle it was hard to see.  Stepping backwards she noticed a pair of props lying on the ground, one was a black top hat and the other a black cane.

“Well, gotta complete the character.” She giggled to herself.  Grabbing the two props she started to walk around the stage again.  “I wonder how I look.”

Acting like the cane was a sword she swung and trusted making whooshing sounds each time.  Giggling more intensely she noticed a mirror not too far around the corner.  Skipping up to it she took a look at herself.  Her giggling stopped when she saw the thing in the mirror.  What she saw was a big triangle with a single eye in the middle, bow tie just below the eye and top hat that she put above her head.

“Ew, this things weird.  I don’t like it.” She snarled at the reflection.  Just looking at it made her head a little fuzzy.  For just a moment there was a flash and she could see a town in ruins.  “What was that…”

Deciding to take the suit off she reached back to unzip it only to realize the arms didn’t make it all way there.   Panicking she started to run around the arena to find something to help her out.

“Hello?”  She stopped as she heard a voice, it was barely audible.  “Can you hear me?” 

She couldn’t quite put a name to the voice, but it did seem familiar.

“Hello.” The voice called out again. 

She quickly spun around to try to find the source but saw no one.  It sounded as if it was coming from behind the wall.  She squinted at the wall and all of a sudden she could see a fuzzy image through it in what looked like a window.  It was almost as if she was looking out through the TV as what she saw was what looked like the living room of the Shack.  She could barely make out two figures looking in.

“Arg, let me try.” She heard Mabel’s voice. “ABBY!  DIPPER!”  Mabel shouted, loud enough it hurt her ears as she waved her hands and banged on the window.

“Oww, don’t yell at me!”  Abby replied.

“Ah, she heard me!” Mabel cheered.

“Let me have that.” The man’s voice spoke again as he moved Mabel out of the way.  “Abby, right? Listen to me Abby, you are in grave danger in there.  That device you hooked up takes a memory you have and turns it into a TV episode.  You…”

“Aw it’s okay, Dipper figured it out!”

“He, he did?” the man’s voice asked smiling.

“Yup, he figured out that if we finish whatever this TV show thingy is we’ll go home.”

The man’s smile was replaced by concern. “What, no! That the exact opposite.  If you complete the episode before I have a chance to set up the exit then it will trap you in there forever.  Whatever you do, you have to stop the episode from completing.”

“I, I don’t know how to.  I don’t know how this is supposed to end.”  She spun around looking for the voices

“Well, tell me what’s going on and I’ll tell you how not to end it.” The man asked.

“Um.  There was something about this demon Bill.”  She stopped.

“BILL?  Oh no, it can’t be going through Weirdpocolypse again.”

“Oh, I guess that’s what this is.”  She muttered to herself as she looked at her costume again.  He did say Bill was a triangle.  Then, for a moment another flash and pain in her head as she could see something like the costume she was wearing but floating in the air above the town.

She could hear the other man’s voice panicking in the background as he ran around the room muttering things like end of the world and such.

“Oh yeah, Dipper was talking about a deed being important.” She remembered.

“Deed, what does a deed have to do with the end of the world?” the man shouted as he looked back at the window.

“Did you say deed, as in deed to the Mystery Shack?” Mabel replaced him in the window.

Abby shrugged, or at least she tried to, this suit wasn’t very spacious.  “I guess, I don’t really remember.”

“Grunkle Ford, it’s not Weirdpocolypse!” Mabel happily shouted turning to the older man.

“Huh?” Abby was confused at what Weirdpocolypse was.

“It’s the first time we met Bill.  He tried to steal Grunkle Stan’s deed.”  Ford rejoined her at the window as Mabel explained.

“Hmm.  We may stand a chance yet.  Alright Abby, whatever you do you must make sure that… Um, Mabel, what happened back then.”

“We beat Bill in the dreamscape!  We got him out of Stan’s mind!”

“Right, you must make sure that doesn’t happen until we can pull you out.  Do whatever you have to do but you must stall it.  Be careful though, as the episode nears completion things that might have been special effects before will start to become real as the ‘show gets made’” He used air quotes.

“Umm.. how do I do….”  She was cut off as she felt someone messing with her back.  Her attention now back to this reality she realized someone was attaching something to her.   Looking back at the wall again she saw it was just a wall, the window was gone.

“Good, you’re already in the suit.” A voice from behind her called out.  “I’ll turn on the voice modulator once you’re hoisted up so you can say your lines in the things voice.   Once we hoist you up we’ll start filming from the point Dipper returns.  Got it?”

“Wait, no, I’m…”  She felt herself being raised up.  Up, beyond the platform to far higher than she wanted to be right now.  Below she could see Mabel, Soos, and for some reason, a bulldog wearing clothes.  She noticed that Mabel looked horrible, all bloated and the dog kept poking Soos.

The next thing she saw was neat.  Dipper flew out engulfed in a green energy field.  He turned to Mabel and Soos.

“Dipper” Mabel called out in a deep voice.

“Dude!” shouted Soos.

“Guys! I just learned that you can conjure whatever you can conceive in Grunkle Stan’s mindscape!”  Dipper told them.

“Huh?” Mabel asked in the low voice again.

“Just think of cool fighting moves and it will happen.  Like this!”  Beams of light shot out of Dippers eyes, vaporizing the bulldog.

“Wait, that actually did something.”  She could hear Dipper mumble.

“Ha ha, he’s dead now.” Soos laughed.

“What? How did you do that?” Abby asked, however when her voice came out it was a different voice.  A weird voice.  “What happened to my voice?”

“We can do anything?”  Mabel asked as her body changed back to normal.  “Like have kittens for fists?”  Her fists changed into cats heads, aiming the fists at Abby they rocketed out at her.  Another flash and surge of pain and Abby saw the triangle fly around. Abby leaned as it did and was barely able to dodge them in time.  Mabel let the kittens lick her. “Well hello, friends!”

“Anything, huh?  Soos love stomach beam stare!”  Soos shouted as his question mark on his shirt shot out at Abby in a brilliant rainbow light. 

The beam hit her dead in her center, just below her eye.  “Oww” She screamed out, again in the weird voice.  Another image flashed through her mind and more pain.  The triangle pointed and shot a beam of energy out of his finger.

‘I’ve got to stop them from finishing!’ She thought to herself.  Following the memory she pointed her finger at the three.

“Hamster ball shields activate!” Mabel shouted.

“Activate” Soos and Dipper shouted.

The laser beam that shot from her finger hit Mabel’s ball square in the middle and shot right back at her.  Unable to move it hit right in the eye, causing her to reel back in pain.

“And now to image your worst nightmare!  A portal out of Stan’s mind!” Dipper shouted with confidence.

A massive portal formed below her and started to suck her in.  She could only feel panic as she found that she wasn’t strong enough to fight the pull.

‘What do I do, at this rate they’ll win!’

Then it came.  Another image, she gritted her teeth as this one came.  The pain in her head was white hot as the view played out before her.  The triangle rose up into the air and threw its arms out.  All of a sudden everything was engulfed in a blue fiery light.  She didn’t understand it but she knew it may be her only chance.

Throwing both of her arms out, she shouted. “ENOUGH!”  The blue light filled the room.  The figures of Mabel and Soos became shadows in the light then melted away as the it engulfed them.  For a moment she could see it all.  The whole world engulfed in these blue flames.  People running and screaming.  A laugh, a sinister laugh. 

And then it was gone.  All of it.

Opening her eyes she saw Dipper looking at her with pure horror in his eyes.

“That… that wasn’t how that was supposed to happen.”

Looking around she realized that the platform was now devoid of life, other than him.

She closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to see what she has just done.  As the blackness shrouded her sight she saw one last image.  The Triangle, holding its hand out, incased in blue flames, offering to make a deal with someone.  Who, she can’t see, but she sees that a hand reached out and took it and all the damage done before is gone. 

Looking at Dipper she moves her body so it’s just in front of him.

“Why don’t we make a deal.” She says in the weird voice not understanding her actions yet following her instincts none the less.  “You gave it a good try but you just weren’t good enough this time so… how about we start all over from the beginning.  You get to keep your memory of this but in exchange you have to take _longer_ to get to here than before.”

She offered out her hand.  Automatically it ignited in blue flame.  The flame didn’t hurt but it scared her.  She hated this suit and wanted it off as soon as possible.

“Do we have a deal?”

Dipper just looked at her scared.  She was now afraid that if he didn’t take the deal the episode would end anyway.  She thought and though on how she could make him take it, hoping it would work.  Then it came to her.

“Well Mason?  Take it or leave it.”

Dipper perked up at his name.  He mouthed Abby’s name.  She shook her hand to try to respond, nothing else seemed to want to move.

Dipper smiled as he stood.

“Alright Bill, you win.  Let’s give this another shot.”  Dipper replied as he shook the hand.

A flash of bright light engulfed them. For a moment, nothing existed.

 

Dipper opened his eyes to see someone sitting across from him.

“So, what’s it like playing Dipper Pines?”  Phil asked.

Dipper looked up at him and said nothing.

“Jason?”

Dipper smiled.

“Who’s says I’m just playing him?”

 

* * *

 

Journal Entry: June 24, 2018 – Mason found a box of Grunkle Ford’s stuff in the basement.  He’s going through it all now, trying to figure out what it does.  _Of course_ he told me to touch any of it, and I won’t.  I think I need to show Soos something later tonight once Mason’s in bed.

 

* * *

 

Journal Entry: June 25, 2018 – I have grown many years since I got back from the parallel world.  Gravity Falls is now a vague and distant memory for me.  I am now one with the world, I am now Roy.

(Melody made a note below that it took Soos a week to recover from that weird video game Ford had kept.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well sorry about that. The wrong copy of the original version got posted (rough draft version). Here is the corrected version. If you happened to read the original there is a gnome over there with a memory gun that will help you forget about it.


	18. Coming round the mountain when she comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wendy is worried about her future so she turns to the best source of information that she has. Yet will that source be willing to tell her what is ahead for her?

Excerpt: Journal 6: June 30, 2018 – A book came in the mail today.  It was addressed to the Grunkle Ford but had no return address.  It looks like it was a book he wrote some time ago with some other people about portal technology.   Mabel passed it off as a nerd book but I’ve decided to give it a spin.

* * *

  

_Click, click, click_

Wendy clicked her pencil to lengthen the lead as she tried, once again, to write what she meant to all summer.  Realizing she had made the lead too long she tapped the end again and lowered it to a proper length.  She sighed as she leaned back, holding the paper up in the air above her.  Balancing the chair on its hind legs she looked up and read what she had gotten so far.

“Wendy Corduroy.  I when I graduate from high school I want to be…”  She trailed of as, thus far, that was all she had written.

The paper was her school’s summer assignment for seniors.  You had to write an essay on what you wanted to be and the pathway you would take to get there after you graduated.  Having already heard about what Thompson wanted to do, and it was weird how much he wanted to talk about it, and the fact that Lee’s procrastination would probably meant he wouldn’t finish in time she really wanted to get her’s done.

“I wonder if Robbie and Tambry got theirs done.” She wondered out loud.  The two were due to come home in just a few days and while she was excited to see them again she wasn’t really into hearing about their _lovey dovey_ time at Robbie’s grandparents.

Letting go of the paper she blew at it to try to keep it aloft it as it fluttered down. Failing this the paper danced back in forth in the air until it landed face down on the floor.  Wendy debated setting down and grabbing it but decided to stay in her well balanced position for a little while longer while she thought.

“Ugh!  Why is this so difficult?”  She exclaimed as she finally let the chair fall back into place.  “Come on girl, you’ve been having fun all summer!  Focus, get this thing done so you don’t have to _worry_ about this anymore!”

Worry was right.  While she hadn’t told anyone her looming graduation at the end of next year and the fact that she would have to start her adult life soon actually unnerved her.  To some of her other friends their lives were starting to fall into place, yet for her all she had was summers working at the Mystery Shack and hanging out with the Dipper and Mabel.

She thought about her options.  College _was_ an option, her family wasn’t well off but it had enough that she knew her dad could get her in, she just didn’t know what she wanted to study. 

She could take a year to decide, she knew a few kids where we’re going to do that.  “No,” she said, “then you’d need a job and the Shacks not available anymore.”

Almost angry with herself she grabbed the paper and her pencil and tried to write something again.  “Just put down that you’re going to follow in dad’s footsteps and become a lumberjack!  He’s been training you for that all these years for it, so why not!”

Putting pencil to paper again she froze, still not sure what she should write.  “No, that’d just be a cop out.”

She looked around the empty house hoping to find some imaginary inspiration that would come to her.  She knew she wouldn’t find it here, her brothers were out at the lake for the day and her dad was… well her dad wasn’t here today and that’s as far as she let that thought go.

She shivered a little.  He house was chilly right now.  Not that she was really bothered by it but it was a bit unusual that it was cool as she didn’t remember turning on the air conditioning.  Then again they rarely did, it was expensive to run that in a cabin of this type.

“Maybe I should just marry a rich guy and live a life of luxury!  Then I can have the A/C on or off all I want!” She chuckled while thinking of the possibility.  “Right, like that’ll ever happen.  Me getting married.”

All of a sudden her mind came to a full stop.  “Wait.” She remembered something.  “Oh, why didn’t I think of this before!”  She slapped her forehead.

Grabbing her things she quickly stuffed the paper in her backpack.  She ran out of the house to her truck as she realized that she may not have an answer here but there’s someone close who might be able to tell her what she wants to know!

 

Mason sat underneath one of the larger trees in the garden enjoying the shade.  Pulling out Journal 6 he flipped to a blank page as he set it on his lap and began to write something down as another shadow cast over him.

“You still writing in that thing?” The voice asked him.

Mason nodded without a reply as she started to sketch in the book.

“Oh, is that how it’s going to be?  Just going to ignore me?” The voice asked again.

Mason nodded and continued sketching, a small smile forming on his lips.

The figure kneeled down and pulled the book out from lap.  Mason tried to respond by grabbing the book, only for it to be pulled out of his reach by the figure.

“Wendy!  What are doing, give that back!”  Mason complained.

Wendy smiled as she held the book just outside of the sitting Mason’s grasp.  He feigned effort in trying to reach the book.

“Uh uh, not until I get my morning kiss.”  She replied, leaning in.

Mason took his cue and leaned in, kissing his wife as he wrapped one hand around her back, pulling her into a passionate embrace.  A few seconds and they broke the kiss as Wendy cooed. 

“Mason, I didn’t know you were so _bold_ in the morning.” She said as she grabbed another quick peck on the lips.

“Well of course my love, how else would I get _this_ back?”  He smirked as he wagged the journal in the air with his other hand.

“Uh!  Why you little!  Fine, if you’re going to be like that I’ll just have to make sure you can’t write in it!”  Wendy mused as she quickly flipped over and laid down, placing her head in Mason’s lap. 

“Wendy!” Mason growled as he leaded over and gave her another kiss.  “Now are you going to move?”

“Nuh huh.  I’m perfectly comfortable right here.”  She giggled.

“Okay, if you say so!”  Mason replied.

Taking his journal and opening it back up he placed it over Wendy’s head, using her as a table.

“HEY!” She shouted at him jokingly.  “I’m not your drafting table!”

“Well you said you were comfortable!” 

“Arg, fine!”  She pushed his book out of the way as she leaned up.  Moving over she sat up against the tree Mason was sitting against.  Going in for one more passionate kiss she fell back on the tree and let her head lean against Mason’s shoulder.  “I missed you so much Mason.  A year is too long to be away from you.”

Mason closed his book again letting it fall next to him.  “Yea, I know.  Living two years with the person I loved the most so close, yet so far away.  It was torture of the highest degree.”  He let his head fall on hers.

“Let’s never let this moment end.”  Wendy said, sleepily

“Agreed.” Mason replied as the morning sun and his love brought him a sense of peace.  They both slowly drifted into a summer’s morning nap.  

 

The two would be awoken by a noise they could only describe as _really_ annoying at this exact moment.  That noise, of course, was Pacifica making fun of the two.

“Look Gideon, we’ve caught a pair of love birds sleeping in their nest.”  She quipped.

“Oh give it a rest Pacifica, let them sleep.”  Gideon scolded her.

Mason slowly opened his eyes to see that Gideon, Pacifica, and Fiddleford had taken to the gazebo to eat… whatever meal was around this time considering Mason didn’t know what exactly when that was right now.

“What’s up?” Mason yawned, trying to not wake Wendy.

“Oh not much, just doing _all_ the real work around here.”  Pacifica quipped again.

“Pacifica!” Gideon chided.

“It’s fine.” Wendy rubbed her eyes.  “I got what I was after anyway.”

“Ohhhhh.” Pacifica cat called.

Mason rolled his eyes as Wendy leaned up off of him and stretched out.  “Alright wise guy, you got us.” Mason shook his head.  “So what’s the plan today?”

“We’ve got a few errands to run in town first then were off to confirm another one of the sites.”  Gideon explained.  “Pacifica’s coming with but otherwise that’s it.  How about you?”

“Ford’s coming by today to work on the portal with Fiddleford and me.  We’re so close to stabilizing the connection fully, hopefully it won’t be too much longer before we can be done with that chapter of our lives.”

Gideon, Pacifica, and Mason all looked over at Wendy who was brushing herself off after standing up.  She stared back at them like a deer in headlights.

“What?” She asked.

“What are you up to today?”  Mason asked.

Wendy shrugged. “I donno, I might hang around here and cause some trouble for Mason every once in a while.” She smirked as she gazed at Mason.

The boys shook their heads as Pacifica rolled her eyes and chuckled.

A few minutes passed then Mason returned to his work and the other went on their ways.  Wendy on the other hand, with nothing to do, decided to stay in the gazebo and enjoy the fresh air for a while.

Bored, but not ready to do anything yet, she let herself lean back on one of the chairs.  She enjoyed the blissful quiet of the birds chirping and the occasional wind gust blowing through the pine needles.  Not long into her tranquil moment she heard the sound of old squeaky breaks from the front of the manor.  Guessing it was Ford arriving for the day she decided to stay put and see if Sherman was with him. 

She had taken a liking to Sherman since they arrived.  He split his time taking care of Mabel and the rest of them and hanging out with his own grandkids.

“Wait,” she said out loud, “technically our Mabel and Mason are his grandkids too… whatever.” She decided it was too much effort to piece that one together.

She yawned again as the door to the yard opened.  Peaking down to see who it was she was surprised to see her younger self looking around for something.  Hopping up from the chair she waved to her younger self who nodded in recognition.

“Sup girl!” The older Wendy chirped as the younger approached.

“Well you know, just the normal stuff.” The younger replied.

“Cool.  So what brings you up today?” She asked her younger self. Thinking of something a wiry smirk formed on her lips. “Come to check out what kinda man Mason becomes?”

“Ew no, come on man, that’s not right!” Wendy vehemently protested.

The elder Wendy laughed at the younger’s expense.  The elder Wendy, or Dee as she allowed herself to be called when Wendy was around, still had a hard time believing that the younger Pacifica had beaten her younger self to the punch when it came to Mason – or Dipper as he was still called. 

“Alright, alright settle down.” Dee laughed as she waved her younger self down.  “I’m just having fun.  So what really brings you up?”

Wendy’s face, which had grown a smirk at her acceptance of the joke now lost the luster.  She took a chair as worried look started to form on her face.

“Well… it’s about me, or I guess it’s about you.” Wendy started.

“Uh huh, what about me?” Dee nodded.

“Well, I want to know what happens to me, I mean us.”  Wendy looked her older self in the eyes.  “I want to know what happens in the future.”

Dee’s smile faded.  “What’s this _really_ about?”

“I… I’m just unsure of my future.  I don’t want to make the wrong choice and screw up the rest of my life and...”

Dee looked back at her younger self who looked down at the table.  Dee ran her hand through her short spiky hair as she looked to the mansion.  She could see Mason working on something, could even hear him talking lightly with the windows open.

“Yea, I don’t think we should talk about this.” She finally replied.

“But why?  You’re me so you probably went through the same thing!  Tell me how it worked out!”

“Same thing?  You think we went through the same thing” Dee became angry at the thought.  “You have no _idea_ what I went through!”

Wendy reeled back at the sudden anger from her older self.  “I… I meant that were the same person.  We had to have the same experiences.”

Dee shook her head angrily.  “No, we didn’t!  You live an ideal life here with all your friends.  I… I went through heck and back just to make it this far.  We’re _far_ from the same!”  She looked down to see the fear in her younger self’s eyes.  Sighing she sat back down.

“Look, what I’ve done, I did.  Like Mason says, this world is really different from the one I knew.  I could tell you everything, well everything I’m allowed to, and I don’t think it would make a lick of difference in the end.”  She finally explained as she allowed herself to even out.  She looked down at the table, avoiding her younger self’s eyes.  “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

“Do… do you regret it?”  Wendy asked softly.

“Huh?”  Dee looked up at Wendy.

“Do you regret being with him?” Wendy elaborated as she looked over at the mansion.

Dee looked over to see Mason messing with a control panel.   ‘Do I regret it?’ She asked herself.  If she thought about it they did get serious really quickly, and they married only a couple of months after he returned so that was outlandishly fast.  She did wonder for a while what things would have been like if she had never gotten together with him, if he had never returned. 

Dee realized what her younger self was really asking about now.  She _had_ thought about the same thing in her time.  Wendy was uncertain of her future, uncertain if she should take the same path or forge one of her own.  The problem was Dee was literally the last person she should ask.  Dee had too many regrets to even list them.

But was Mason one of them?  Today she could say she loved him, that much is true.  Back then she could probably say the same thing.  Yet even then, that lingering thought of what might have been remained.  She always had a lingering thought that she just married Mason as he was an easy solution to her complex problem, or maybe it was the other way around.

She sighed.  “I don’t know.  I love him but… I just don’t know.”

“I see.”  Wendy sounded downtrodden again.

“I’m… I’m going to head out of a little while.  Take some time, maybe the answer will come to you.”  Dee finished as she stood up.  Walking over to the window she leaned in.  “Mason!”

Mason stopped working on the panel and turned and walked over.  “What’s up?”

“I’m headed into town for a while.  I’ll be back.”

“Okay… just give me a call before dinner so we can make plans.”  He replied.

“Sure thing.”  She leaned in and gave a quick smooch.  “Love ya!”

“I love you too” He said as she waved at him and ran to the gate.  Mason looked over at Wendy, still sitting at the table, before turning back to his console.

Wendy sighed; she had come for answers and yet only got more questions.

“I reckon that what ails you is part of growing up.”  A voice startled her from behind.  Quickly spinning around she saw Fiddleford sitting on a stone bench tending to some flowers.  “It reminds me of my youth, I think.”

“How long have you been there?” Wendy asked.

“Oh, the whole time.  I thought about sayin something but ya’ll seemed to be into it.”  He replied as he pulled a weed growing in the bed.

Wendy walked up to him and sat on the bench.  Fiddleford tossed the weed to the pile he had created nearby and took a seat next to her.

“When I was a kid I really wanted to be an engineer.  Always knew I did.”  He said as he crossed his legs.

“Cool, but how does that help me?” 

Fiddleford shook his head.  “I’m gettin to that.”  He sighed as he looked to the sky to try to jog his memory.  “My folks, they weren’t too happy ‘bout that.  They hated the idea that I was going to be some fancy brainy guy.  They wanted me to stay home and work the family business.”

“I take it you didn’t.”

“No, but I thought about it.  It kept me up at night for a _long_ time.  They didn’t support me leaving so if I did I’d have to go somewhere cheap which meant that I might not get a good education.  It was the hardest decision of my life.

“But in the end I found a small scholarship that let me go to Backupsmore.  As much as my parents hated me for it I think over the years they’ve come to realize it was for the best.  My talents would have been wasted working the family trade.”

“Do you regret it?”  Wendy asked.

“Naw.  I look back on it now as just the first step on my road to where I’m at.” Fiddleford stood up.  “I’d recommend ya think of it like that too.  No matter what you pick to do as long as it was what you want to do or need to do then it was the right choice.”

Wendy slowly nodded.  “Alright, I think that helps.”  She turned to Fiddleford.  “Thanks!”

“My pleasure.  Now, if you don’t mind I’ve got to…”  He started but stopped as he gave a concerned look just past her.

“What is it?”  Wendy asked as she turned around.  Behind her were the flowers that Fiddleford had been working around, yet for some reason they were all closed.

“That’s not right.”  Fiddleford reached down and touched one.  He reeled back for a second.  “Their freezing!  It’s 95 degrees out, how is that possible?”

Wendy shrugged.

“Well you better run along now, I think I’ve got a bit of mystery of my own to figure out.  Hopefully our talk helped you out.”  Fiddleford said as he began checking the other flowers.

“I think it did.” Wendy replied as she got up.  “Good luck with _whatever_ that was.”

And with that Fiddleford turned his full attention to saving this bed of flowers.

 

* * *

  

Tats adjusted his new sweater as he stood outside the bar.  ‘Blue with a sunflower on it, just how I always imagined it would be!’ He happily thought to himself.  ‘I’m glad I worked up the courage to ask her to make it!’  Yet no sooner did his elation rise it fell in spectacular manner.  The woman from the other night walked his way with _the look_.

It was the kind of look that they were not in the best of moods and they wanted to drink.  Stopping just short of him she placed her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow.

“So do I need to pay the cover charge again?”  She asked snidely.

Tats shook his head.  “Nope, but we don’t want any trouble.”

Dee clicked her teeth and looked away. “Tch, wasn’t my fault the guy came on to me.”

“Even so, boss says no more fighting.”

Dee shook her head. “Fine, how bout I promise not to go wild and you let me in for a drink?”

Tats thought about it.  He wasn’t instructed to stop her from going in, just to make sure she didn’t cause trouble anymore.  Being that it was the middle of the day most of the patrons were out and the guy she scared off probably won’t come back anytime soon either.  Tats reckoned it probably wouldn’t hurt to let her in right now, so long as she behaved.

“Hmm” He groaned. “Alright, but no trouble making or you’re out for good.”

“Fine, fine.” Wendy smirked.  She started to make her way to the door but stopped.  Flipping around she pulled out her axe and held it aloft. “Shall I leave this guy outside again?”

Tats could, without a doubt, tell you one thing for sure; he did not like that axe.  The rule was all axes stay outside but after that one went in on its own he didn’t think he could stop it he wanted too.

“Keep it; just don’t be swinging that anywhere you don’t mean to.”

Returning the axe to her belt Dee nodded.  Walking halfway through the door she looked back and gave Tats a once over.  “Nice sweater by the way.”  She added as she shut the door.

Tats smiled as he regained the elation of not only getting this awesome sweater but the recognition that it was cool.  ‘Maybe today _will_ be a good day,’ he thought.

 

The bar was basically empty at this hour as Dee skimmed the tables to see if she knew anyone.  Oddly enough of the seven or so people there were she actually recognized two of them.  Her father, Manly Dan, and Tyler Cutiebiker were sitting at one of the tables talking to each other.  Deciding it was best to not bother them and risk incurring Mason’s wrath she took to the bar not far from them.

She looked for the bartender, not seeing one she spun around to see someone passing out drinks to two of the patrons.  She sighed as she realized this person was probably the only person here waiting on people right now.  Waiting her turn the bartender finally made his way behind the counter and approached her.

“What’ll it be?” The bartender asked in a thick southern accent.

She quickly scanned the shelf again, trying to find what she had last time.  Not seeing it she sulked a bit. “Hmm.” It dawned on her she was less thirsty and more hungry now.  Since she hadn’t had breakfast this could be a good time to eat as any. “You guys got a kitchen?”

She knew the answer, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been to this bar before in the past and it wasn’t like _that_ was bound to change, but it helped give her a cover story of someone from out of town if she asked. 

“Yup.  Menus over there.”  The bartender pointed to the stack of menus lying on the end of the bar.  “I’ll give you a few and let you pick what ya want.”

Dee nodded and reached over to grab a menu.  Skimming it for a few moments she decided on some chicken wings, fries, and a Pitt Cola.  Waving to the bartender he returned to take her order.

“What’ll it be sweetie?”

“Wings, as hot as you can get them, with fries for the side and a Pitt Cola.”  The bartender took her order down on his pad.  “And…” She skimmed the shelf again. Still not seeing anything that caught her eye she continued.  “Give me something tasty to go with that.”

“Hmm…” the bartender thought for a second, “alright, I’ve got you.  Give us a few to make it.  Do you want the drink with the meal or right now?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t expect me to drink on an empty stomach do you?”

“Just asking.” The bartender replied apologetic.

She sat in silence sipping the Pitt Cola the bartender left on the counter as she waited for the food.  Her mind kept flipping back to this morning and the conversation she had with her younger self.   She actually had really wanted to tell her younger self what had happened but how do you explain it?

All she had gone through it wouldn’t have been easy.  Dee guessed she could have probably started with the fact that she had her great grandfathers axe and that it bore a special curse that probably would cause her to slowly lose herself over time.  She could explain that she used that axe to fight all sorts of demons and monsters that sprang up after the world went belly up.  Yet what’s the use.

If Mason was right then they were going to change fate and none of what happened to her would happen to Wendy.   Then again, it already was different.  Since Dipper and Mabel were here this time Wendy would probably figure out what she wanted to do faster than she did.  Plus if you add the fact that Dipper isn’t an option for her to take then she’ll be bound to do something more.

Dee blew bubbles in her cola as she waited.  This amused her a bit as she hadn’t done something childish like this in a while.

“She truly was an amazing woman!”  She heard a voice from the table behind her.  Without turning she realized the voice was Tyler talking.  His voice just loud enough for her to hear but she didn’t hear a response.  “I miss her too Dan.”

‘Who are they talking about?’ Dee wondered.  Closing her eyes and focusing on listening for a moment she was able to hear more.

“I know Pag wasn’t the easiest woman to get along with but she was our friend.”  That name surprised her.  Glancing behind her quickly she noticed the two of them holding their mugs high in a toast.

“Oh god, it’s today isn’t it.”  Dee whispered to herself with a tone of melancholy.  

The name and now the date made sense to her.  She knew the reason Tyler and her father were here, it was a ritual they did almost every year at this time.  They were here to drink, and to celebrate someone near and dear to the both of them, someone who brought them together as friends.

They were here to toast to her mother, who died on this day many years ago.

Dee didn’t really remember her mother much.  She had died when she was very young, not long after her youngest brother had been born.  She vaguely remembered that her father mourned for a long time and from that day on he became the man who was determined to raise his kids with all his will, but that was about it.

She zoned back out as the two continued raising their mugs to her mother.  Raising her glass to get the bartenders attention she ordered a refill of cola and asked about her food.  After being assured that they were almost done she put her elbows on the counter and let her head fall into her hands.

Zoning complexly out she wasn’t aware of the passage of time as a hand on her shoulder jolted her back into reality.

“Your food and accompanying drink.”  The bartender told her as he placed a plate of wings and fries on the bar next to a glass of almost neon red liquid.  “Enjoy darlin.” 

Dee looked at her food as the bartender walked away to deal with another table that was calling out to her.  The wings were bright red, a good sign that they were just the right kind of spicy.  She grabbed a fry and dabbed it in the red mixture, swooping up a bit of the spicy liquid.  Taking a whiff her nostrils burned as she smiled.   She had been ready for this for a long time. 

Biting into the fry her mouth immediately started to water, along with her eyes, as the heat singed her tongue. “Oh, that the stuff.” She exclaimed as she grabbed another fry and dipped it in the sauce.  Chomping down on a few fries she decided it was time to try the concoction that the bartender provided her with.

Picking up the glass full of the red liquid she sniffed the stuff.  It smelled sweet but not so much she was repulsed.  A quick sip gave her a good idea why the drink was recommended.  Immediately after it hit her tongue the fire in her mouth was immediately replaced by a sweet taste, like wild strawberries.  She could rotate eating and drinking for one heck of a meal.

Setting the drink down Dee could hear Tyler in the back ground again.  She furled her brow as she realized the conversation he was having must not be going his way as he sounded unnerved, almost angry.

“Dan, you’ve got to move on!  It’s been years since she died!  I’m sure there someone else out there for you.”  He paused as Dan must have been whispering something.  “Think of the kids!  How long has it been since they’ve had a mother?  And what about you, you deserve to be able to move on too!”

Wendy rolled her eyes.  She grew up fine without her mother and her brothers were fine too.  Nothing about the way dad raised them was bad and if he didn’t want to meet anyone else that’s fine by her.  She reached down and grabbed one of the wings, rotating it her hand to try to find the best way to approach it.

“I know you still love her by she’s dead.  You’ve got to move on, move on!  She’s dead and gone and you need to accept that!”  Tyler called out.

“SHES NOT DEAD!  SHE RAN AWAY!” Dee stopped with her mouth gaping to bite the wing as she heard her father yell that at the top of his lungs. “SHE HAD TO RUN AWAY!”

Dee dropped the wing on the plate as she spun around to look at Manly Dan.  He was standing tall with the chair he was in flipped over behind him from his sudden egress.  His fists were clinched and she could see he was gritting his teeth as he stared with fire in his eyes at Tyler.

What surprised her further was that Tyler didn’t seem to back down.  He must have been staring back at her dad with the same passion in his eyes as Dan seemed to back down.  Dan eyes drooped as he looked down.   “She told me she had to run, to protect us.”

Dee couldn’t believe her ears.  What was her dad saying?  Her mom got sick and died not long after her youngest brother was born, why on earth is he saying that she ran away? 

Her mind went into a flutter of thoughts.  Mason said this world was different; could that be one of the differences?  No, that didn’t make any sense.  Mason had said that the changes started after he arrived two years ago so everything before should be the same.  Why would her father have kept this from her then?  Why did he tell Tyler about it now?  She needed answers and she needed them now!

Manly Dan stood there as he heard the door to the bar fly open and then slam shut.  Looking up he looked over to see what had caused that.  Tyler seemed to be doing the same.  Eyeing the room he saw that the young lady who was at the counter earlier had left in a hurry.

He wasn’t sure why but that lady looked incredibly familiar to him.  He didn’t know what it was about her but something felt off, like he knew her or something.  He narrowed his eyes as she noticed she had run out with a full plate of wings and a drink left on the bar.  A single bill left on the counter to pay for it.  Looking back at the door Dan began to think.

 

* * *

 

 Wendy ran down the street a brisk pace.  Her mind was in a panic state as she made her way down to the park in the center of town.  What started off today as just a worry about her future had now grown into something else entirely. 

Since leaving Fiddleford to deal with his ‘freezing flowers’ at the mansion she stopped off briefly for lunch at the diner.  After Lazy Susan served her cold coffee, which she claimed was just brewed moments ago, she tried to eat a stack of flapjacks only for the syrup to freeze over.

Leaving the Diner she went to the pool only for large ice cubes to start forming in the pool, ice cubes that were big enough for some people to use as floatation devices.  What was now scaring her was that this happened on a day when the temperature was over a hundred degrees.

Now, running down the street she should be sweating her head off at the heat but instead she felt like it was a cool autumn day.  Finally reaching the gazebo at the middle of the park she plopped down, exhausted from her panicked run.

“What the heck is going on?”  She asked herself as she looked at her hands.  Rubbing them on her cheek she felt cold as a cool glass of water.  “Oh man, this can’t be good.”

Deciding this was something paranormal and that she would probably need help she pulled out her phone to call someone.  Deciding Dipper might be the best person for the job she punched in his number.

“Come on, come on.” She exclaimed as she phone rang.  Someone finally picked the other end up. “Dipper!” she shouted into the receiver.

“Nope, it’s Mabel.  Dipper forgot his phone today _again_.  Man, Mom gave us phones for a reason and he just up and forgets he owns one.” Mabel giggled on the other end.

“Mabel, listen, where’s Dipper?  I need to talk to him right now!”  The panic in her voice was deep.

“Whoa, you okay Wendy?  You sound panicked.”  Mabel asked with concern.

“Something’s going on.  I don’t know why but…”  Wendy heard the phone cut out.  Holding her phone in front of her it was frozen over, small shards of ice forming around her hands on the phone.

Dropping it the phone hit the ground and shattered.  Stepping back a few feet in horror Wendy nearly fell as she bumped up against the picnic table.  She sat down as she tried to collect herself.  She had no idea what was going on.  None of what was happening made sense.  Did she get cursed today or something?  Was this some weird gadget that Ford had come up with?

She shivered as the world around her got colder.  She felt sleepy as her vision began to blur.  Laying down the bench she closed her eyes.  “Maybe just a little nap and this… will… be… better…”

She awoke to a feeling of warmth flowing through her body.  Slowly opening her eyes she saw Dee standing over her with a worried look in her eyes.

“Dee, what brings you out here?” She weakly said.

“Shh.” Dee shushed her.  “Let the fire warm you first.”

As her vision started to become clearer she saw that Dee’s eyes pure white and lacked pupils.  Looking down at her chest she saw that Dee was holding her axe just above her, a blue flame licking the blade as it warmed her.

Giving a moment for the feeling to come back into her body she moved Dee’s hand away from her so she could sit up. Dee took the seat next to her, not letting the axe get too far away. 

“What happened to me?”  Wendy finally asked.

Dee shook her head. “I don’t know.  The axe doesn’t react like this unless there is a demon or some sort of demonic magic in play.”  She paused to let that sink in.  “Wendy, I think you’ve been cursed by a demon.”

Wendy looked down at the axe.  The brilliant blue flame continued to give her warmth as she sat there, warmth that on a day like this would normally be unwelcome, yet now it was what she wanted dearly.

“It’s great grandpa’s.” Dee said, know what her younger self was thinking.  “I found it around now in the old sawmill back in my time.”

Wendy looked at her older self who was looking at the axe with longing.  The weak smile on her face belied the fact that that might have been a fond memory for her, but a sad one also.

“It has a portion of Great Grandpa Archibald’s spirit in it.  The same spirit that once tried to turn the whole town in to wood for not allowing everyone into the Northwest Manor.”  She sighed.  “But then again, there was more to his story than that.”

“What do you mean?” Wendy asked.

Dee continued to look into the flame, or at least that was what Wendy guessed since she couldn’t really tell where she was looking with just the white eyes.  All she could see was the flickering reflection of the flames.

“Great Grandpa was the last in a line of demon hunters.  He meant to pass on the skills to his child but he died before he could.  Being lumberjacks was only a cover for his real work – hunting demons and monsters that showed up in Gravity Falls.”

“Wow… that’s… that’s cool.”  Wendy smiled.  She never really knew much about her great grandfather other than the fact that he had died during the floods after the Northwest manor was complete.

“Yea, with his spirit in this axe when I’m wielding it I can use his powers and skills but…”  Dee trailed off.

“But?”

“But it takes a toll on me.  I lose a bit of myself every time I fight, not that it hasn’t come in handy to be more like great grandpa from time to time.”

Wendy nodded.  Warm enough she pushed the axe further away as it was starting to become more uncomfortable than anything.  “So, how did you know I was here?”

The flame went out on the axe as Dee’s pupils returned.  She replaced it in her belt as she looked up.  “I didn’t really.   I mean, I was looking for you but all of a sudden the axe went wild on me and drew me here.  Lucky for me it you were the person I was looking for.”

“Well thank you,” Wendy said to the axe with a chuckle, “you saved my life.”  A quick spark from the axe was what she took as a ‘you’re welcome.’  “So why were you looking for me?”

Dee thought for a second.  It was more important to get this curse of her younger self than to deal with the smaller issue of their mother.  “We can talk about it later.  We gotta get his curse off of you first.”

Wendy nodded.  “Okay, how do we do that?”

“Did you encounter a demon or something demonic recently?  Anything at all?”  Dee asked.

Wendy thought about it.  Nothing came to her mind immediately.  “No, I don’t think so.”  Most of their problems this summer had been the more mundane kind, other than the whole ‘yourselves from the future’ thing going on.  Really the only supernatural thing she had done had been…   “Wait…”

“What?” Dee asked.

“There was one thing.  When we were trying to get this guy to go away Dipper and I ran into the statue dad made.  You know, the one in the forest that looks all weird.”

Dee thought about it, it rang a bell but honestly it was a long time since she saw it so she couldn’t quite remember what it looked like.  “Yea… lets go check that out and see what we find.” She declared.

 

Heading out to the location of the statue Wendy and Dee had to stop several times to ‘defrost’ Wendy when she became too cold.  Finally reaching the clearing the two spied the statue in the distance.

“There it is.”  Wendy pointed it out from the edge of the clearing.

Looking right at it Dee did get sense that the statue was demonic in nature.  Not because of something the axe told her but because the very look of it felt like something she had encountered before.   Nothing specific mind you but very close.

“Yea, I think this is it.”  Dee replied as the two stepped out of the clearing.

Approaching they noticed two things.  First, the base of the statue was covered in blue flowers, flowers neither girl had seen growing in Gravity Falls before.  Secondly, there was someone wearing a blue hooded robe kneeling in front of the statue. 

“Who is that…” Wendy started to whisper as they approached.

In a sudden flash of instinct Dee grabbed her axe which immediately became covered in flames.  “Wendy step back.” She ordered her younger self.  “We’ve found our demon.”

The figure perked up at the mention of demon and quickly stood up.  Turning around to see who was behind them the figure, face still obscured by the robe, seemed surprised by who it was standing before them. 

“So you’re the one who cursed her, huh?”  Dee called out as she held out the axe.  “Well my little friend and I would like to have a word with you.”

“No, it’s not like that.”  A woman’s voice came out beneath the hood as it shook back and forth. “It’s not a…”

“Reveal yourself demon.” Dee cut her off.  “So that I might know who I will slay.”

Wendy noticed that Dee’s voice and mannerisms were becoming more… masculine.  Not that she wasn’t a tomboy already but this was more… like her father or something. 

“Please, I don’t want any trouble.  I was just…”  The figure tired again, holding out her hands.

Wendy could see the woman’s hands were a pale blue.  A hazy mist was rolling off her hands as if she was like dry ice in this heat.

“Trouble is what you have.  Your kind is a plague and I am here to rid the world of it.”  Dee said as she began to approach. 

Leaping forward Dee swung the axe at the figure who barely dodged out of the way, but not before Dee caught the robe she was wearing, causing it to rip off as it caught on the axe. 

For the first time Wendy got a good look at who had been beneath the robe.  If she would compare it to something she had seen before it looked a lot like that fire demon they encountered during Weirdpocolypse last year.  The key difference was she was colors of blue instead of red and instead of fire it seemed like this cold mist was flowing off of her body.

“Please, I don’t want to hurt you.”  The ice demon tried again.  She looked over at Wendy.  “I don’t want to hurt her.”

Dee pulled her axe from the ground where it had implanted.  Tossing the robes to one side she held the axe level with the demon again.

“Silence.  You will fall like all the rest before my blade.  None have stood before me and lived to tell the tale before and none shall do so today.”

Jumping over the demon Dee kicked her in the back, forcing her to fall forward into the statue.  Quickly turning around the icy demon barely had time to drop to the ground as the axe flew past her and embedded in the statue.   Dee held her hand out as the axe dislodged and flew back to her.

As she approached her fallen foe Dee began smile gleefully at the prospect of taking down another demon. “Not bad, but nowhere near good enough to stop me.”

She raised her axe in the air, preparing to strike the final bow on her foe.  The ice demon could only raise her arms to try to defend herself against what would be her final moment.  Dee swung down as Wendy, out of instinct, looked away.  She heard a sharp clang of metal, and then nothing.

Opening her eyes again she saw that Dee’s axe was now a few feet to Dee’s right, along with another smaller throwing axe.   Both women looked over to where the axe came from and saw someone unexpected. 

Manly Dan was standing at the edge of the clearing holding a pouch full of axes.

Dee clicked her teeth, having regained some control. “Tch, why’d you stop me old man, this isn’t your fight.”

Slowly walking over to grab her axe again Dee turned around and watched as Manly Dan moved in-between her and the demon.

“Is this really how it’s gonna be?  I don’t wanna go through you but I will.”  She said as she swung the axe over her shoulder.

“Just try it!” Dan shouted in return.

Dee clicked her teeth again.  “Guess I’ve got no choice.”

Wendy couldn’t believe what she was seeing.  Her father was standing there defending a demon who cursed her while her older self was standing him down, ready to take him down with her.  She watched as Dee took an attack stance, ready to go in for the kill.  Her father just stood there stoically; ready to receive whatever she threw at him.

It was at that moment that she felt it again, the chill she had felt all day.  Quickly looking down she noticed that her feet were literally frozen to the ground.  Ice was starting to form on her body as she gasped for air that was now thin in the cold surrounding her.  She tried to call out to Dee so she could use the axe to thaw again but it was no use, the breath just wouldn’t come.

She watched, unable to do anything as Dee charged her father and swung.  In a flash she saw her father catch the axe by the handle with his left hand and in one swift motion knock her out with a punch to the face with his right.  She watched as Dee fell motionless to the ground, as he father stood over her holding the no longer burning axe in his hand.

And then she could watch no more, her vision was now that of the ice that surrounded and covered her.  She once again fell into the slumber of cold.

 

* * *

 

 Excerpt: Journal 6: June 1, 2018 – This book is amazing.  They had four different views on how to traverse the multiverse.  They were working on something big, I can tell.  They were just missing one last piece.  If Grunkle Ford were here I’m sure buy now he would have…   But he’s not.  He’s not coming back.  I’ve just got to accept that. 

I miss you Grunkle Ford, Grunkle Stan.

 


	19. Frost Flowers Blooming in Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper and Mabel investigate Wendy's frantic call as Wendy and Dee are trapped by a demon and their own father.

Excerpt: Journal 6: July 8, 2018 – After last week we decided to have a gathering to remember them today.  I still can’t believe it’s been 6 years.  I still miss them so much.  I wouldn’t be the person I am now without them.  I just… (The writing trails off.)

 

* * *

  

“Increase dispersion by 22% and wait for my signal to lock it in.”  Mason barked out orders to his comrades. “Prepare to decrease nexus by 8 degrees and align with the current outcome.”

“8 Degrees?  You’re overcompensating too much, you’ll miss the mark if you go that far!” Ford shot back as he adjusted his console.

Mason, Ford, and Fiddleford were standing at different consoles working on a now active portal.  They had been doing this day in and day out since the day Mason and his group had shown up.  Today was simply just another day of work for them on taming the complex beast that Mason had created in their timeline.

“I’m doing it intentionally.  If we go too low we risk creating an errant portal somewhere.” Mason replied not even looking up from his console.  “Last thing I want to do is create a portal to nowhere in the middle of Gravity Falls.”

Ford grumbled a reply and adjusted the nexus to Mason’s specifications.  Ever since he started to work on the project he realized that while Mason was incredibly intelligent he also took some incredibly serious risks in everything he did.  It irked Ford to know that, while he seemingly had the situation under control, Mason’s portal could potentially damage not one but many different dimensions.

“The connection is stabilizing.” Fiddleford read off his readings to the console he was working on.  “91% stability achieved.”

Mason sighed deeply as he adjusted the last switch and the machine started powering down.  “I think that’s the best were going to see today.”  He fell back into his chair grasping at the air. “We’re so close, I can feel it.”

As the power died down Ford and Fiddleford joined him in sitting down.  Fiddleford wiped the sweat from his face as Ford cracked his neck.

“I never thought my summer would be occupied by something that nearly tore me apart 40 years ago.”  Ford laughed. “Guess what comes around goes around.”

Fiddleford chuckled. “If I knew I’d have to do this twice in my life I reckon I’d’ve just turned you down the first time.”

Mason smiled as he looked between his companions.  “I’m glad you it did though.” He smiled. “And I’m glad you two are friends again.”

Ford’s smile faded as he looked to his old friend who had a similar expression.  The stared at each other for a moment trying to go over their feelings for each other before Fiddleford smiled again.

“Yea, It’s nice to work with ya again Ford.”

“Likewise.” Ford smiled.

Mason let himself lean back in his chair as he enjoyed the friendlier atmosphere, one that he was still getting used to after two years in this timeline.  Breathing in deeply he took in the serenity of the moment.  Yet that serenity was broken when his stomach began to grumble lightly. 

Realizing that it was nearly time for dinner he began to wonder what would be tonight’s meal.  Pausing as a thought crossed his mind he pulled out his phone from his pocket.  Flipping it open he looked through the missed calls.  He found nothing.

“Huh, that’s weird.” Mason thought out loud.

“What is?” Ford asked.

“What? Oh,” Mason replied as he realized he had spoken out loud, “well Wendy was supposed to call me before dinner so we could make plans but she hasn’t yet.”

“Is that normal?”

“Well no, she usually calls.  I guess it wouldn’t be completely unlike her to be late or something.  I’m not really worried, after all she’s an adult and her axe… well let’s just say I’m not worried about her getting into any trouble she couldn’t get out of herself but…”  He trailed off.

“Hmm.” Fiddleford mused.  “Maybe she’s just havin a good ole time in town or something?”

“Probably” Mason chuckled.  “Well, I just call her a little later.  She’ll hate if she missed dinner tonight, its Pacifica’s turn to cook.”

“Pacifica’s turn?”  Fiddleford shouted, startled.  Quickly turning to Ford he nervously muttered. “Err… Ford, how about I treat ya’ll to a dinner at the diner tonight?”

Ford gave Fiddleford a confused look, then to Mason.  “Is her cooking that bad?”

Both men shuddered.

“Yea… she hasn’t… really caught back up to normal human cooking standards.” Mason tried to politely explain.

“She cooks worse than the time I had road kill stew.” Fiddleford quickly elaborated. “And that possum was flat as a pancake when I scooped him up.”

“Wow, that’s… something.   Reminds me of when Mabel tries to make food.  I can’t say I’ve gotten a taste for it yet.”  Ford rubbed his neck as he pitied the two men.  “I suppose I can take you up on your offer then Fiddleford.  How about we head out to take advantage of the early bird specials.”

Fiddleford quickly nodded as he reached for his jacket.  “I’m right behind you.”

Mason sat in silence as he watched the two older men quickly grab their things and bolt for the door.  ‘None too soon’ Mason thought to himself ‘Pacifica will be back any moment.’

The room was soon quiet again as he sat, alone, waiting for life to push him on to his next adventure.  What an adventure it had been.  In the past 7 years, for him at least, he had seen the end of the world and the beginning of something new. 

His stomach rumbling again Mason reached for his phone and dialed in Wendy’s number.  Hovering over the connect button he hesitated. 

“She should have called by now…”  He waited, debating on hitting the button.  “Why hasn’t she?”

Moments passed as his mind went back and forth on what to do.  Finally deciding to give her a little while longer he closed the phone and replaced it in his pocket.

“Well, I guess I’ll check on Mabel before I give her a call.  I’m sure she’s just forgotten what time it is.”  He assured himself as he stood up.  Taking one last look at the machine and nodding at the stillness of it he made his way into the hallway.

When they had arrived everyone had been so happy to pick out their room.  Of course Pacifica quickly grabbed her old room and Mason and Wendy had been given the master suite by Fiddleford since they were the only couple of the group.   Abby tried to claim the biggest room as her’s which, incidentally, was the new portal room so of course she couldn’t have it. 

They settled on her staying in Pacifica’s room.  That didn’t last long since they decided to have her stay at the shack for the time being since no one had the ability to watch her while they worked.  Gideon… well nobody was sure which room Gideon took, or if he even slept anymore with his condition but he disappeared every night after a certain time and showed up for breakfast. 

Dipper stopped in front of a set of double doors.  This room was Mabel’s, it was the only one that wasn’t picked by its occupant.  Quietly Mason knocked on the door to the room.

“Mabel, are you awake?” Mason spoke softly as he gently opened the door.  The room was nearly pitch black but his eyes quickly adjusted to see the single occupant covered in bed sheets.  “Mabel?”

He could see her turn in her bed, away from the light of the doorway. Quickly coming in and closing the door behind him his eyes further adjusted to the now blacked state before him.  Slowly walking over to her bed he stopped short at the panel of some machine.  To pulled out his phone and turned on the light to check the panel quickly before putting it back in his pocket.  A quick glance to the four pylons at the corners of the bed told him the machine was still working as it should.

“How you doing?  Are you getting any sleep?”  He asked quietly as he made his way to the side of the bed.  His only reply was a weak moan from his sister.  Setting down on the edge he reached over and stroked her hair gently. “I know it hurts.  I can adjust the setting if you want me to.  You just need to let me know.”

“Mason…” He heard her whisper.  “I can still hear them.  Their cries keep ringing out in my head like it just happened.”

Mason winced.  A pain shot through his head as he let go of his sister’s hair.  “I know sis.  You gotta hang in there, though.   Soon it’ll be over and we can get you the help you need.”

Mabel turned over as Mason stood up and away from the field that surrounded the bed.  He could see tears in her eyes, even in this darkness.  The machine gave him headaches just being in the field for a short time, he could only imagine how much it hurt her.

“You promise bro-bro?”  She asked weakly as she held up her fist to him.

“Promise.” He smiled as he gave her a fist bump.

“Good, I’m tired…  I think…  I’m gonna go back to… bed.”  She tried to say as her eyes closed on her.

Watching her quickly drift off with a smile Mason slowly turned around and made his way back to the door.  Quietly he made his way back to the door and slipped out in to the hallway.  No sooner did he make it twenty paces from her door when he turned to the opposite wall and slammed his fist into it.

“Arg!” he cried out partly in pain and partly in frustration.  “You’ve stopped the end of the world and yet you can’t even help those closest to you!”  Tears welling up in his eyes he took each breath deeply.  “I won’t let this happen again.”

He gave himself a moment to calm down as he took deep breaths to slow his heart rate.  He failed to save his sister and there was nothing he could do to change that.  As he returned to his normal self he reassured himself.  “No, there’s still time.  I can save this Mabel and all will be well again.”

Determined again he decided he had put the inevitable off long enough.  Pulling out his phone he was prepared to call Wendy again.  He already knew this would probably end in a fight but it didn’t matter, she knew the rules and she didn’t follow them.   He’d given her enough leeway with allowing her to go on her own, it was time to put his foot down.

No sooner did he punch in the number and his finger was hovering over the connect button again did his phone ring with an incoming call. 

“Woah.” He exclaimed in shock at the sudden call.  “Caller ID Unknown?  Nobody knows this number.”  Deciding to take a dive he hit the connect button and held the phone up to his ear.

“Hello?  Is this Mason?”  The young girls voice rang over the line.  He recognized that voice.  It was Mabel, but how did she get this number?

“Mabel?” He eeked out a response. “Mabel, how did you…”

“No time!  Is Wendy there?” Her voice sounded alarmed, or rushed, he never was really sure with his sister sometimes.

“Wendy?  No she went out for a while today.  I think she…”

“No, not Dee, Wendy!”  She cut him off.

“Dee?  Who’s Dee?”

“That’s the nickname we gave Wendy from the future!”  Mason would have to note that for later.  Nicknames would help in keeping track of any double.  He could hear her panting on the other end as she continued.   “She tried calling Dipper earlier but her phone got cut off.  It sounded like she was in trouble.”

Mason couldn’t think of much that would cause Wendy that much trouble.  Then again, he was thinking more of his Wendy and not the Wendy of the now.

“Okay, calm down…  Wait, how did you get this number?  Also, whose phone is this?  It’s not Dipper’s or yours.”

“NOT IMPORTANT!” Mabel yelled back at him.  “DID YOU SEE WENDY!”

Mason thought about it for a second.  “Yeah, yeah, she was here earlier.  She was talking to Wen… Dee when she was here but left shortly after Dee did.”

He could hear Mabel’s pace soften as the sound her running stopped.  Her breath became shallow as she fought to catch her breath.

“Look, I’ll give Dee a call and see if they met up.  Maybe the two of them got into some sort of trouble.  Just ask around town, I’m sure someone saw her.  Worst case I’ll start looking through the woods around here to see if she… got lost.”  Even saying it didn’t sound right.  No way she would be lost in these woods.  Then again, it was his only lead and he was more than willing to help out his sister’s younger self.

“Cool thanks bye!”  Mabel quickly belched out before the line went dead.

Mason sighed.  Another adventure thrust upon you.  Well you did say this was going to happen.  Closing the call he swapped over to Dee’s number again and hit connect.  No sooner did he put it to his ear did he get an out of service signal.   Thinking it but a fluke he tried again and, once again, got out of service.

“That’s not possible.  Those phones are specially made to get a signal anywhere in Gravity Falls.” 

Quickly swapping to an app he started the program he had created.  This program was one he had secretly installed in his companions phones but had hoped he would never have to use.  Hitting the button for Wendy it began to triangulate the position of her phone.   With any luck she still had it and the two Wendy’s were together.

 

“Cool thanks bye!”  Mabel quickly belched out as hit the disconnect button of the phone she was using.  It wasn’t but two or three seconds later that two men stood behind her desperately gasping for breath.

“Mabel… why… did you… run away.”  Dipper barely managed to get out as his lungs struggled to keep oxygen in his blood.

“Well I thought if I ran I might find Wendy.” She shrugged back at her brother.

“But why did you steal _my_ phone?”  Toby Determined asked as he too was gasping for air.

“Really!  Mabel you have a phone.  Why did you need Toby’s?”  Dipper added.

Blushing a little Mabel handed Toby his phone back.  “I donno.  Just thought it was the best thing to do at the time.  By the way Toby, you’ve got a great phone!  How’d you get it?  I mean, most of your stuff isn’t real, I figured your phone would be a shoe or something.”

“I’ll have you know not all of my stuff is just picked up off the side of the lawn!  I purposefully bought this phone so I could talk to and take pictures of Shandra Jimenez.”  He answered as he took the phone from Mabel.  After quickly checking it over for damage he placeed it in his shirt pocket.

“Oh Cool!” Mabel excitedly exclaimed.

“Actually that’s kinda creppy, and probably illegal.” Dipper added.  “I don’t think you should be telling anyone that.”

“Well you shouldn’t be stealing my phone in the first place.”  Toby pouted as he turned and made his way down the sidewalk.

“Right.  Anyway how did you know Mason’s number Mabel?” Dipper asked his sister as he watched Toby walk _slowly_ away.

“Oh I just heard Grunkle Ford mention it to Soos as a number to call him at.”

“Well anyway we should probably ask around town and see if anyone’s seen Wendy.”

Mabel nodded then turned to Toby. “He Toby!” She yelled.  “Have you seen Wendy!”

“No!”  Toby yelled back as he took a seat on a park bench.  “I’m getting too old for this.”

Mabel looked back at her brother and shrugged. “Guess he hasn’t seen her.”

Dipper sighed as he palmed his forehead.  “Mabel, please take this seriously.”

“Pfft?  It’s Wendy were talking about, it’s not like she’s in danger or anything.  She’s probably just having lady issues.”  Mabel waved her brother’s concern off.

“Lady issues?  Really?”

“What?  It’s not like she ever really gets into trouble.”

“Oh really, how about the time we got attacked by the ghosts of those convenience store owners?”

“I don’t remember that.” Mabel shrugs.

“And how about the time the shape shifter came after us?”

“Aww, you had that one down easy.  If you would have confessed to her there wouldn’t have been a problem.”

Blushing a little Dipper tried again.  “And how about the time we had to fight off a ravenous gang of inmates to go save someone?”

Mabel gave Dipper a confused look.  “When’d that happen?  Who the heck did you need to save?”

“Really Mabel?”  Dipper sighed again.  “Weirdpocolypse.  Wendy and I fought of Bud and his gang in order to save you from Mabel land.”

“Oh, yeah.  I guess that counts.”  She paused thinking.  “I guess we should take this seriously.”

“Arg!” Dipper growled.  “Yes please!”

“Okay!  Let’s go interview witnesses!”  Mabel turned and excited skipped off towards the nearest group of people.

 

After twenty minutes of searching the two ended up at the town square.  All random passersby’s were questioned thoroughly about the location of the missing person only to come up empty.  Stopping by the Gazebo the two spotted Mayor Tyler stumping on a literal stump.  Taking a seat at the bench in the shelter they quietly listened in and caught their respective breaths.  Just as Tyler finishes Mabel noticed something at her feet.

“Hey Dipper look!” She pointed down at something.  As Dipper looked down at the object he realizes it is a phone.

“It’s Wendy’s cell phone!  I’d recognize it anywhere with the ‘Lumberjacks are jacked’ cover on the back.”  As he picked it up he quickly dropped it again.  “Oh wow.”

“What is it?” Mabel asked.  “Is it too hot?”

“No, it’s freezing.” He replied as he holds the phone before him.

“No way, let me see.” Mabel grabbed the phone and herself nearly dropped it. “Wow!  It’s super cold!”

“Yea, I’m not sure how.  It’s like 100 degrees out right now.”

Mabel shruged.  “I donno but its… _cool_.”

Dipper groaned.  “I thought we said we were being serious.”

“Sorry, I call um as I see um.” She apologized with no tone of remorse.

“Call what as you see them?”  Tyler asked as he approached the steps of gazebo.  Looking up the twins saw that Tyler had made his way over, most likely to take in some shade after giving his long speech.

“The jokes!” Mabel laughed.

“Ah ha,” Tyler laughed with her.  “well I guess you just have to roll with the punches.” Dipper sighed again.  “What’s the matter Dipper?”

“Well we’re looking for Wendy.  She called us about something urgent but now we can’t find her and nobodies seen her.”

“Oh, well I suppose your best bet would to ask Dan.  He’d probably know where she is.”

“Okay, but where is Dan?”

“Hmm, well last I saw him he left the bar after he though…  well he went to talk to a young woman he thought he recognized.  Haven’t seen him sense.”

“Great, now we’ve got to find two missing people.  How are we going to find him?” Dipper lamented.

“I can confirm that Dan was last seen going into the forest in the direction of the old mill.” A voice spoke up behind them.

“Ahh.” Both twins exclaimed as the flipped around to see Tad Strange sitting on the other side of the bench.

“How long have you been there?”  Mabel asked, one eye cocked in curiosity.

“Since before you two sat down. I would have said something earlier but I was enjoying the normal beauty of the town square.”

“Oh wow, okay.   You’re sure that you saw him that way.”

“Sure as I like bread!”

The twins slowly nodded to each other. 

“Well I guess we have a lead.”  Dipper shrugged.

“To the Forest!”  Mabel exclaimed as she jumped up and with one arm in the air began to run in the direction of the forest.

 

* * *

 

 As her consciousness returned the first thing that came back to her was the throbbing pain in her right eye.  This pain was a cheery reminder to her that she shouldn’t underestimate her family just because she’s from the future.  The second thing she felt was a cool feeling on the sore spot, as if someone had put an ice pack on her eye.

“Thanks Mason.” Dee mumbled without even thinking.  The cold sensation faded for a moment then returned.

“Look what you’ve done to her.  The girl’s knocked silly.”  A sultry voice whispered.  She didn’t recognize this voice.  “There there, the big mean man won’t hurt you anymore.”

“Not my fault she wouldn’t stop fighting.” This time Dee recognized it as her father, Manly Dan, trying his best to whisper.  It must have taken an incredible amount of effort for him to do that considering how he usually talks.  “I wasn’t going to let her hurt you.”

Dee’s wits finally retuned and the events leading up to her ‘nap’ came back.  She found Wendy, then they attacked a demon in the forest, then Dan showed up and for whatever reason he attacked her.  Somehow he must have gotten the upper hand on her and knocked her out.  Where she was now she didn’t know, her eyes were still shut and for the moment she decided it would be better to keep it that way until she was more sure of the situation.

Feeling the cold leaving her eye again she heard someone beside her stand up and turn around.  “I’ll need more water.” The sultry voice commented as Dee listed for the person walking to go away.  Seconds later she heard a grunt and heavier footsteps do the same.  Deciding to risk it Dee slowly opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was she was in a cave.  As her eyes adjusted to the dim light she saw that it was furnished.  Someone must live here, at least part of the time as there was a table and several chairs.  Candles on the table flickered as they provided what little light the room had.  Trying to adjust herself from her laying position she felt a resistance.  Looking down she saw that she had been chained down, most likely to keep her from escaping. 

‘Too easy’ Dee though.  All she had to do was summon the axe and these little chains would be gone in no time.  Closing her eyes and focusing she reached out to the axe.  She could feel it, it was close.  She called out to it in her mind’s eye, told it to find her.  Then she heard it, chains rattling on the other side of the room.  Opening her eyes she saw the axe, just on the other side of the room, so covered in chains one would think that Dan or whomever had been more afraid of that than her.

Opening her mind again she struggled to give the axe the power to break free.  ‘Come on, come on!’  She thought to herself as she strained her mind trying to give it the command.  It was all for naught.  Whatever those chains were they had her weapon and there was nothing she could do about that.

Struggling to turn herself she took greater stock of the room she was in.   Honestly, compared to the places she had been living in her timeline this would have been a fairly substantial upgrade.  The cave wasn’t natural, she could tell from the way the walls seemed carved out, yet even then they seemed solid so not like the gnome tunnels they had been hiding in. 

The furniture was well made.  You don’t come from a family of self-sufficient apocalypse preparing lumberjacks without having built a few things yourself.  Taking a wild gander she surmised that whomever made these, if it wasn’t Dan himself, was knowledgeable at least.  Shifting around to see what was behind her she nearly jumped, well she would have if she weren’t tied down.

Behind her was her younger self incased in what looked like a thin layer of ice.   Eyeing her up and down she realized that Wendy must have been overcome by the curse not long after she was knocked out.  Her expression of shock still frozen on her face from the moment it overwhelmed her.

“Hang in there girl, I’ll get you out of here.”  She reassured herself as she looked around again for something within reach to get the chains off of her.  He options were quite limited in that respect.  The only things she judged she would be able to grab were the bedroll she was laying on and maybe the pillow under her head.  Sadly nothing she could use to make her escape. 

Frustration filled her as she realized for the first time in quite a while she was hopeless.  She had fought a swarm of demons and felt like she would come out on top more than she felt now.  A sneer crossed her face as she thought of what happened.

Why did Manly Dan intervene?  Her own father!  He stopped her from doing the duty that her family had sworn to do for generations.   Sure, maybe he didn’t know about it, after all, it was the spirit of Archibald that told her the truth but he for him to defend a demon?  This wasn’t sitting well with Dee at all.

‘When he comes back…’  She could think of what she wanted to do.  Punch him?  No, that would require her to get free and that wasn’t happening unless he let her.   Maybe tell him who he is really supposed to be!  That wouldn’t work either, she would have to explain who she was for him to understand why she knew.

“Tch” she clicked her teeth.  “Mason and his stupid ‘Don’t tell anyone who we are’ policy.  Figures the one time I really need to would be with my old man.”

Time passed as she continued to grumble to herself about her situation.  Finally after what felt like hours she heard footsteps from down the pathway.  Quickly getting back to how she was she closed her eyes and feigned sleep.  Listening carefully she heard the loud footsteps make their way back into the room.  They then made their way around the table to the other side and then the rattling of chains filled her ears.

For a brief second she felt a sense of freedom.  Even without opening her eyes she knew what that was.  Dan must have freed the axe.  Her reaction speed to call the blade to her side was quick but sadly not quick enough as she felt a grasp around her torso as if someone was squeezing her tightly.   She felt like she was moving just slightly as the footsteps came closer.

“Get up.” Dan’s voice called out. 

She kept her ruse up, hoping that he would make some mistake and drop the axe for even a second.   That would be all she needed to command it to cut through her chains and she could have her rematch. It was all for naught though as only a moment later a boot the size of a small truck hit her square in the side of her torso causing her to reel in pain. 

“I SAID GET UP” Dan called out again, this time agitated.

Wincing Dee opened her eyes and looked at him.  Sure enough he was standing over her, holding the axe in his left hand with a death grip around the handle.

“Rude!  What did I ever do to you?”  Dee asked defiantly.

“Where did you get this?”  Dan ignored her and held out the axe in front of him.

Dee thought quickly.  She couldn’t just give away the real location of the axe or it might give away who she was.  She decided she would have to fib it a little and hope for the best.

“I found it.”

“WHERE?”  Dan seemed agitated again.

“In the forest.”

In such a swift motion that she didn’t even really have time to understand what was going on Dan swept down and grabbed her by the chains, pulling her up and thrusting her against the wall, hard.   The force of the impact caused her breath to escape her for a second before it returned, along with the pain.

“Lie to me again…”  Dan stared coldly at her.  She knew he was serious and with his brute strength and her incapacitation there wasn’t much off the table as for what he could do.

“Why’s it even matter where I found it.  It’s mine now give it back.”  She stared into his eyes defiantly.

“No.  No one is supposed to have this axe, not even family.”

Dee nearly jumped in shock.  What did he mean by that?  Did he know who she was?   How did he find out?

“You let her go now.”  Dan said angrily as he stared into her eyes.   Dee looked back in confusion.  Let who go?  The only person who was holding someone was him.   She looked into his eyes when she realized it. He wasn’t staring into her eyes he was staring through her.

“No you milksop fool.  She chose this path and this path she will take. Now hand over the axe before your head we break.”  Dee caught herself saying.  

Why on earth would she say that?  And what the heck was a milksop fool?  Why was she rhyming?  She watched as Dan squeezed the axe harder, the handle starting to creak under the stress.  With the action came the feeling.  It felt as if her own torso was now in the grip of a vice and it was only getting tighter.

“I SAID LET HER GO.”  Dan near screamed at Dee.

For a moment she felt a strong defiance wash over her but as quickly as it hit then it was gone.  Dan stared at her intently for a moment before relaxing his stance.  Dropping her on her back on the ground he turned back around and walked over to the place he had first chained the axe up and quickly replaced it in the near tomb he had created for it.

Swinging around he came back, this time grabbing one of the chairs and sitting down in front of Dee.  Reaching over he pulled her up by the chains and sat her against one of the cave walls before taking his seat.

“Now,” he started, his voice much less tense, “we can talk.”

Neither spoke as they both stared at each other.  Finally Dan asked the question again.

“Where did you find that axe?”

Dee felt… less inclined to lie to him again.  Whether it had been the pain he inflicted on her or the fact that he had somehow tamed her great grandfathers axe she wasn’t sure but what she was sure of was that she wasn’t getting away.

“You want to know, fine.  I found it at the old abandoned mill eight years ago.”  She explained.

“You’re lying again.” The agitation was returning to his voice.  “Eight years ago that axe was with me.”

Shocked she shook her head. “What?  You _had_ the axe?”

Dan nodded.  “I was looking for a place to hide it.  Now, where did you find it?”

“Tch.” Dee clicked her teeth again.  Her gaze fell over to her younger self.  She decided to change the topic.  “Why did you stop me?”

“What?”

“Why did you stop me?  If you hadn’t stopped me that demon would be dead and the girl would have been fine.  She’s cursed by the demon and only the axe or the death of the demon would cure her.”

Dan shook his head. 

“You know it’s true.  You’re a family of demon hunters.  You know how the curses work.”  Dee became agitated at Dan’s deflection.

Dan shook his head again.

“Stop running away from it, if you _knew_ about the axe then you _know_ about our family’s history!”  She began to shout.  Catching what she had just said she calmed down and corrected herself. “Your family’s history.”

Hoping Dan had missed what she said she quieted down.  She heard someone sigh just around the corner.  The demon walked around, revealing that she had been listening.

“If you knew my family’s history then this wouldn’t be a problem.”  Dan finally retorted.

“Oh yea?  Well it looks to me like you’re giving up your family to be this little demons servant.  She’s your daughter and you won’t save her!  What kind of father are you!”  Wendy finally raged.

The look in Dan’s face was first rage, then sorrow, then… something else Dee couldn’t quite put her finger on.  He quickly stood up and walked out of the chamber.  She could hear his loud footsteps for a long time.

“You have no idea what he’s been through.”  The demon said as she watched him leave. 

“Shut up demon.  I don’t want to hear a word out of you.  When I get out of this I’ll slay you and free my friend.”  She stared the monster down.

“No,” The demon shook her head. “You won’t.  Killing me won’t help Wendy at this point.”

“Oh yea, I bet…”  Wendy was cut off as several grunts were heard from the passageway.  The demon looked out to see what was coming.

“What are you doing here?”  She asked an unseen figure down the hallway.

“My lady, forgive the intrusion.”  Dee could make out the voice but she couldn’t quite put a finger on it. She knew this voice… but who? “Our scouts in the forest have informed us that there are several people who seem to be searching for the two girls you have as guests.  What shall we do?”

The demon looked at Dee and thought for a moment. Turning back to the unseen figure she nodded.  “Do what you must.  I do not want them to find this cave.”

Dee heard no reply but whomever was in the tunnel must have turned around and shuffled away.  Soon she was left alone again with the demon who was looking over Wendy, gently caressing the ice incasing her.  “Soon, very soon my child.”  She spoke sinisterly.   Taking a quick glance at Dee she turned and made her way back to the entrance.  “I suppose I must prepare a contingency in case he fails in his task.”

 

Dipper and Mabel had finally reached the sight of the statue.  From what Tad had told them Dan would come out here every once in a while so there was a good chance that he might have been here today.  No sooner did they arrive though did the twins notice something was amiss. 

“Mabel, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”  Dipper asked his sister as he looked around at the scuffling on the ground.

Mabel nodded. “Yea, looks like they had one heck of a party here recently.”

Dipper groaned at his sister.  “No Mabel, I think there was a fight here.  Look!  It looks like two people came out of the forest over here.”

Dipper pointed to the twin heavy boot tracks that came out near where they were at.  Following them he watched as one of their paces quickened.

“One of them must have jumped toward the statue.” Dipper jumped, following the motion of whoever had those prints.  Pointing to the base of the statue he continued. “Someone was standing here.  Looks like they dodged out of the way, but just barely.”  Dipper followed the motions and jumped away from the standing spot.

Landing he noticed a blue scrap of cloth on the ground.  He picked it up and examined it. 

“Um, Dipper”  Mabel called out to him.

“Not now Mabel.” Dipper replied, not even looking up from the cloth and the foot prints.  “This near miss must have torn the clothing off one of the combatants who fled this way.”  Following, step by step, he mimicked the action.  “A swing here, a miss here.”

“Dipper!”  Mabel called out again.

“It looks like someone lodged a weapon, most likely an axe, into the statue’s base here.”  He continued, ignore his sister.  Running his fingers along the grove he took a swipe before tasting the dust on his finger.  “The combatants broke apart before one of them managed to jump over the other and knock them down.” He stood in the landing spot of the jumper, holding one arm up to mimic preparing a deathblow. “ When it looked like all was lost someone threw another weapon, again probably an axe, that deflected the final blow!”

“DIPPER!” Mabel yelled.  Dipper once again ignored her and continued to move along the footprints.

“Is he always like this.” The figure standing next to Mabel asked.

Mabel shrugged. “Kinda.  He really gets into it sometimes.”

“Must be tough to have that as your brother.”

“I make do.” 

“The new combatants joined the fight as the two ran at each other and finally…”  Dipper stopped as he reached a very large pair of bear feet.  Looking up at his eye level a bear head growled at him.

“Stop that” Multi-bear called out to his lower head.  Dipper looked up and realized that Mabel and Multi-bear had been standing there watching him.  Jumping back startled he looked at his sister.

“Mabel!  Why didn’t you warn me?”

Mabel sighed.  “Why even try some days…”

Clearing his throat Multi-bear grabbed the twins attention.

“What are you doing out here at this time of day?”

“Were looking for Wendy.  Have you seen her?” Dipper replied.

“Wendy… which one is that again?  Most of you humans look alike to me.”

“She’s the tall one with long red hair.  You know, the lumberjack’s daughter!”

“No, I can’t say I’ve seen her.   Besides, it’s getting late, you two shouldn’t be out in the woods near dusk.”

Dipper cocked an eyebrow.  “Dude, it’s six.  We’ve got plenty of time before sundown.”

Noticing something Mabel pointed in the direction of some tracks and called out to Dipper.  “Dipper look, more tracks!”

Flipping around Dipper was quick to ascertain that the tracks were of two people, one carrying a very heavy load.  Considering it looked like the original two people from this fight didn’t ‘leave’ it would be an easy guess that they were taken, carried by the newcomer.

“Alright!  Good one Mabel, lets go…”

Before he could finish Multi-bear stepped in front of his way.

“I said you kids need to go back.”

“What dude, what’s up with you?” Dipper asked confused.

“Go back!”  Multi-bear roared.

Mabel stood beside her brother.  “We’re not going back until we find Wendy!”

“Then you leave me no choice.  I must make you go back!” 

Dropping to all fours Multi-bear got into an attack stance.  Both twins backed off, unsure of what to make of this turn of events.

“Calm down dude.  We just want to save our friend.”

Dipper slowly made his way to the left of the bear while Mabel inched to the right.

“I have been given the mission to stop you from passing and I will do so!  If you don’t turn back I am prepared to take you back forcibly.”

“Oh yea!  Well I beat you once, I can beat you again!”  Dipper retorted, confidently.

“We shall see! In the intervening year I have learned a new style of fighting called Multi-Headed-Style!  I cannot be beaten by a single opponent!”

Dipper smiled.  “Well it’s a good think I’ve got a sister.  Now Mabel!”

“What?” Multi-bear got up as he flipped around to see Mabel had used her grappling hook as a swing and was coming in fast on him. 

Mabel braced her legs out as she swung and collided into Multi-bears primary head, knocking him up in the air.   As he stood on his hind legs again Dipper fired his magnet gun at the ground causing it to quake slightly disorienting Multi-bear further.   Nearly toppling over he couldn’t dodge when Mabel came around for the second go and whacked him on the back of his head.

Falling forward on his stomach the heads groaned as they all lost consciousness.  Dipper and Mabel couldn’t help but to high fived as they stood over their large defeated foe.  As Dipper jumped off and ran for the tracks he waved for Mabel to follow him.  Starting after him she stopped and turned back, leaning over to whisper something in Multi-bears ear before joining her brother on the new trail.

“What was that about?” Dipper asked Mabel as his sister caught up. “What did you say to him?”

“I just told him to rest well and dream of large lady-bears.”  She giggled as the two of them ran down the path. 

 

* * *

  

Thankfully it wasn’t long before they reached their destination.  It looked like the losers had been carted into a cave that, even with all of their exploring, the twins hadn’t seen before. 

“Dipper, you think she’s in there?” Mabel asked her brother as they cautiously approached.

“I don’t know, but if Multi-bear was willing to fight us I hope so.   Something about this just doesn’t feel right.”

The two stopped at the entrance and Dipper felt the walls of the cave.

“Wow, this is cut stone.”

“Huh?”

Grabbing his sister’s hand he ran it along the wall.  She could feel the smoothness of it, almost no jagged edges at all.

“Someone cut this out, my guess would have to be with something finer than a drill or claws.  We should be careful.”

Mabel nodded in agreement.  “Sneaky time” she whispered.

Very slowly the two made their way in.  While they were being stealthy the best they could really do was go slow and quiet as there wasn’t exactly much to hide behind.  Several hundred feet into the cave the light dimmed, but never enough that they couldn’t see.  The stalactites almost seemed like they glowed slightly, providing light.

“Dipper, why are they doing that?” Mabel asked.  “Are they magic?”

Dipper shook his head.  “No, I think they’re just icy and reflecting light from further down… or from the entrance, I’m not sure.” He added as he gazed around the corridor.  

The cave seemed straight forward enough.  It was basically a single path with an occasional path or two blocked by thick ice built up over the years.  Dipper surmised that if they broke through it this cave system might actually be fairly large, even rivaling the size of the mines or the gnome tunnels.

Reaching a bend the low glow of the stalactites was slowly being replaced by a light source from around the corner. 

“Hold up.” Mabel stopped her brother.  He looked at her to confirm what was going on.  “Flickering lights means fire, which means people.  I think we’re close.”

Dipper nodded in agreement.  Pulling his magnet gun from his pocket he prepared himself.  With Mabel’s grappling hook at the ready the two leaped around the corner.

“Eahh!” they both yelled as they landed and aimed at their surprised victims.  Or at least that would be the case if there was anyone there.  All they could see was an entrance way with a wooden table and some chairs, a single lamp flickering on the table.  Waiting to see if they had alerted anyone the two dropped their weapons to their sides.

“Well that was anti-climatic.” Dipper bemused as the two walked forward.. 

“Yeah, that wasn’t really what I was…  DIPPER!”  Mabel yelled as she grabbed his arm and pointed.

Following her gaze Dipper saw that chained up and gagged in the corner of the room was Wendy, or Dee at least. 

“MGHUH!” Dee tried to shout through the gag, a bit of fear and surprise present in her eyes.

Running over to her the twins quickly tried to undo the chains with no avail.  Pulling the gag from her mouth Mabel afforded her the ability to speak.

“Guys!  Am I glad to see you!”  Dee smiled.

“I’m sure we’ll be gladder once we get these chains off you.”  Mabel replied as she pulled at the chains.

“You’re not going to be able to.  Look, get my axe free, it’s over on the other side of the room.  I’ll be able to get out then.”

Confused as to why she wanted her axe first Dipper quickly turned to see a pile of chains bolted down on the ground, the smallest portion of a wooden handle visible poking out from what might be enough chains to weigh anchor on a sizeable ship.

Thinking quick Dipper set his magnet gun to magpulse and turned the power settings to max. 

“I hope this works.  Everyone, take cover!” He shouted as he pulled the trigger and ducked behind the table.

The gun whizzed with energy as the pulse was expelled from the barrel.  Hitting the metal chains square the innate negative magnetic energy caused the chains and the bolts holding them down to shoot out in all directions.  Fragments of the metal bounced around the room nearly hitting the occupants.  One fragment of a bolt slammed into Dee straight in the chest, deflected only due to the presence of the chains holding her down.

Dipper poked his head up as the chaos died down.  In what was once a pile of shredded metal chains now lay an ordinary woodsman axe.  Dipper still wasn’t sure how the axe would help but if any the damage to the room was any indication he wasn’t about to use the magpulse setting on Dee directly unless he wanted to watch is friend explode.

“Sooo… How’s your axe supposed to help us?” Mabel took the words right out of Dipper’s head.

“Just watch.”  Dee replied as she closed her eyes and concentrated.  The twins looked at each other, trying to figure out what was going to happen.  Shrugging they turned to the axe and watched it closely.

All of a sudden a small blue flame began to spark around the head.  In seconds it had engulfed the blade completely.  The twins watched stunned as the axe began to float in the air and in a swift motion flew past them.  They heard the loud clank of metal on metal, the metal on stone.

Turning around they saw that the axe had lodged into the stone wall behind Dee, so close to her that a hair’s breadth to the right and it would have nicked her.  Yet now here she was standing again as the chains that covered here were sliced clean through.

“And that is the power of my Great Grandpa’s axe.”  Dee explained as she turned to take the axe from the wall.  Her hand stopped but an inch from the hilt.  “Maybe dad was right.” She mumbled to herself.  Shaking her head she grabbed the handle.  “No, I can’t waver now.”

“What happened here?” Mabel asked as Dee turned around. 

“It’s a long story.”  She sighed.  “So what are you two doing here?”

“We got a call from Wendy about something happening to her.  We’ve been looking for her all day and kinda ended up here.”  Dipper explained.

Dee’s eyes widened.  “Wendy!  That’s right!”  We’ve got to go after her!”

“Wait!  Wendy _was_ here?”  Mabel asked as Dee made her way to the doorway.

Dee nodded. “Yea.  She was cursed by this demon and got frozen in ice.  When the demon heard someone was coming she took Wendy somewhere else in the cave.”

“Somewhere else?  How is that possible, didn’t we go straight here?”  Mabel asked Dipper, confused.

“Yeah we did.  Wait, did you say she frozen?”

Dee nodded as they made their way down the corridor.  “I think this demon controls ice.”

“Well there’s no where she can go that we can’t…” Dipper ran head long into a wall of ice.  “Oww.  What the heck?”

He stared at the ice as the two stopped and turned.

“What is it?” Mabel asked.

“This wasn’t here before.  Mabel, this was the direction we came from.”

Mabel giggled. “That’s silly.  You probably just got lost again.”

Dipper shook his head.  “No, I’m sure of it.  We came in this way.”

Dee looked around the cave’s corridor.  Eyes several locations that seemed to be blocked off in ice she looked back at the twins.

“No, I think he’s right.  I think that demon is leading us somewhere.”

“What’ll we do?”  Mabel asked worryingly.

Thinking on it she realized they didn’t really have a choice.  Her axe _might_ be able to melt through the ice walls but with the toll on her body already this high she probably wouldn’t have the energy to do it for long.

“We walk in to the bear trap.  If we know it’s a trap we’re better prepared.”

The twins nodded, bring out their respective weapons again.  They followed their elder down the corridors, unsure of when the trap would be sprung.  Finally reaching a larger open room they stopped and saw that which they all sought.

“Wendy!”  The three called out in unison.  On the floor of the room lay Dee’s younger self, strewn out and unconscious but alive, and to Dee’s relief, no longer incased in ice.  The three ran to her as Dee slid to her knees.  Picking up Wendy’s head and laying on her lap she checked her vitals.

“She’s cold but she’ll be okay.” Dee said with a hefty dose of relief.

“What happened?” Mabel asked, still unsure of the details of their ordeal.

“As I said, Wendy’s been cursed by that ice demon.”  Dee held her axe over Wendy.  The blue flames licked at her skin. “My axe is the only thing holding back the curse, at least for now.”

The twins could only watch as the flames flicker over Wendy’s body.  The girl shifted again and again as the older one move the blade over her body.

“Dee I think she doesn’t like it.”  Mabel tried to point out.   Dipper noticed too.  It was almost like he flames were starting to burn her.

“The blade can’t hurt normal people.  It’s fine.”  She tried to console the two but it only seemed to get worse.

“Seriously, I think you should stop.”  Mabel moved over to try to move the axe away.  The sudden touch on her skin startled Dee and she pressed the head onto her younger self for but a moment.

It was only a moment yet that was what it took for Wendy to scream out in pain.   Her eyes shot wide open as she reeled and screamed her way away from the axe.  Stunned Dee could only watch as her younger self looked at her like an animal looks at a human who kicked it.

“I… I’m sorry.” Dee apologized.   Little good that would do, Wendy still looked terrified of her.  Only the sudden sight of Dipper and Mabel seemed to calm her down.

“Guys!”  She exclaimed in relief as the two jumped into her arms and hugged her.  Breaking from the hug she looked calmly at her older self.

“I… That’s never happened… why would it on me… I mean you…  I just don’t get it.”

“That’s why I said no one should use that axe.” 

The group quickly snapped to the direction the voice.  Coming in through the other side was Manly Dan and, to the twins, what looked like a blue Pyronica.  Not sure as to why Dan would be with a demon the twins took a step back.

Dee on the other hand bowed her head.  “No, you’re the reason this is happening.  Nothing happened like this before.  I came out fine.  Why isn’t she!” Dee looked up.  Her face flush with a fury as she stared at the two newcomers.  The twins had never seen her so angry, it actually scared them a little.

“Please stop before you get yourself hurt.”  The demon tried to interject.  “This shouldn’t end in violence.”

“Oh, it’s going to end in more than violence.”  Dee leveled her axe against the two.  Dipper and Mabel fell to her side to back her up.

The demon looked at the Dan.  “Please, be gentle.”  She brushed his shoulder and stood back.

“No guarantees.” Dan replied as he pulled his woodsman’s axe out of his holster.

“Guys,” Dee spoke softly, “I’m not sure I can actually beat my dad, and neither is my Great Grandpa.  If the worst comes you guys need to take Wendy and run.  Get out of here and tell Gideon where I am.  He should be able to get me out of this.”

Neither twin could find the words.  If Dee felt strongly enough to tell them that then it must be bad.  Steeling themselves for a fight they watched as Dan moved slowly closer, his heavy footstep echoing in the cave.

“Last chance old man.  Let me by or I’m taking you down too.”

A simple grunt was Manly Dan’s reply as he jumped forward and took a swing with his axe.  Dee dodged backwards as Dan’s axe crashed into the rock floor, causing dust and debris to fly into the air.  Dee quickly recovered and made her own charge back at him, hoping to strike him when he was stuck recovering from his swing.

No such luck.  With an unnatural speed Dan’s axe was airborne again and Dee was forced to jump away before her attack left her too open to counter or dodge.  Mabel and Dipper could only watch as the two giants moved with speeds they had only seen heroes in TV shows manage.  Each swing of the axe was countered or dodged perfectly by the other.

For a moment it actually looked as if they were evenly matched.  One could even come to the conclusion that this was either a stamina match or a waiting game to see who made a mistake first.  However it became quickly apparent when Dee started to slow down little by little that something was wrong with her.

At one point she barely managed to dodge a swing that could have taken her entire left side off only to land hard on her side.   Standing backup she grasped at her ribs, muttering something the twins couldn’t make out.  Lunging at Dan but feigning the attack to make her way back over to them she whispered.

“This isn’t good guys.  My body’s not moving the way I want it to.  The the damage I took earlier is starting to add up.  Get ready to grab Wendy and run.”

“But what about you?”  Dipper asked, frightened.

“Like I said, I’ll be fine.  I’m going to make one last big attack before leading him away.  It’s all up to you guys.”  She raised her axe outward, between them.  “Now go!”

Dee watched as they ran over to Wendy, helping her up.  Struggling they slowly started to make their way to the entrance.  Dee could only smile.  She knew she only had one more shot in her.  She would have to give it her all, do some damage to her dad so he couldn’t pursue them.  She wasn’t worried too much about the Demon.  It didn’t seem to have much fighting ability beyond the curse so she figured the twins could handle it.  After all, they handled Bill and he was much worse.

“Sorry Mason, looks like I’m going to be late for dinner tonight.” She murmured to herself as she tensed up for her final attack.   She could see it in him too.  He wasn’t even warmed up but he was ready to end this.  Dan’s stance was one of a killing blow and she was about to jump right into it.

Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel watched as Dee and Dan began running at each other, both dropping any pretense of guarding themselves in order to make the decisive strike.  Wendy could only watch as her older self and her father were now on the brink of destruction.   Dee jumped in the air to gain power over Dan while Dan swung his axe low and up to catch her square. 

Wendy could only feel the feelings of loss that she was about to experience, a feeling that she didn’t want to ever feel.  She threw out her hand and yelled “STOP!” but it was too late.

The sick sound of the axes hitting their marks filled the air as she looked away, unable to bear witness to what happened.  The room was filled with silence as they waited.  Nothing, no sound just feeling, a feeling of cold.  The room now felt as if it was freezing.

“Wendy look.” Mabel exclaimed quietly. 

As she opened her eyes to see a wall of ice between the two, their axes having found their mark not in each other as she thought but in a shining wall of frozen water.  Wendy looked at the demon, wondering why she did that only to see the demon look ecstatically back at her.

“Why did she…” Wendy began as she looked down at the twins.  They both bore an expression of surprise and it was aimed right at her. 

“THAT WAS AMAZING!” Mabel exclaimed.

“What?” Wendy asked.

“How, how did you do that?”  Dipper asked her, grabbing her still outstretched hand.

Wendy looked down to her hand and realized that the wall of ice originated not from the demon but from the tips of her palm right in front of her.  She quickly pulled back and the wall began to dissolve.

“I… what was that?” She could only ask.

“You did it!” The demon shouted as she ran up and hugged Wendy so hard she managed to swing completely around her.  “I knew you had it in you!  I knew it!”  The demon rubbed her face on Wendy’s much like Mabel would with Waddles.

She didn’t know how to react.  She somehow just created a wall of ice and now a demon was hugging her.  On a scale of one to weird this was basically second to Weirdpocolypse.  She watched as Dan let go of his axe, still incased in the ice, and walked over to her.

Standing no more than a foot away from her he reached out and rubbed her head the same way he did when she was young, when he was proud of her.  The smile on his face grew bigger as her confusion did. 

Dee quickly jumped off ice, her axe having melted itself out, and limped over to the rest.  Barely able to stand she tried to level her axe again Dan and the Demon again but the pain forced her to grab her side.  Finally overcome and the adrenaline leaving her she let the axe fall to the ground.

“What just happened?”  Both Wendy’s asked in unison.

“Well? Tell her!” The demon looked at Dan who rubbed the back of his head as he tried to look away.  “It’s time she knows the truth.”

“Truth?  I didn’t even know the full truth until today.”  He tried to shirk it off.

The demon stood at her full high, not even two thirds of Dan’s and proceeded to poke him the chest.  “No, you tell her now or I’ll leave again.”

Scared Dan threw out his arms to try to stop her.  “FINE!” he yelled.

Looking around to see everyone staring he took a deep breath before he began.

“You see Wendy, it turns out were actually a big clan of demon hunters.  Being lumberjacks is just a cover for us to…” He was quickly interrupted by the demon poking him in the chest again as she gave him an angry look. 

“Not the right truth!”

Dan grumbled a bit before starting again.  “Fine, I’ll tell the other one.”  He grit his teeth and began. “It turns out… your mother didn’t die 8 years ago.  She… well she ran away.”

“Wait, what are you saying.” Wendy asked through her shock.  “Mom died.  Everyone in town had a funeral for her.  I remember it! Everyone cried and… and…”

“It was a lie.  Your mother had to run away.”

“Why?” Dee asked from behind him.  Dan seemed unphased by her question.

“She had to hide from someone who was looking for her, someone bad.   You remember the big triangle that nearly destroyed the town last year?”

Both girls nodded.

“He was looking for her.  The only way she could save you was to hide from him but… that mean she had to disappear.”

“But why would mom know Bill Cipher?  What could he possibly want with her?” Wendy asked.

“He would have…”  Dan started.

“He would have made me open the rift to his world.”  The demon interrupted.  The room fell silent as four pairs of jaws dropped.  Both Dan and the demon looked down.  “I couldn’t let him hurt my family.”

“Wait… you mean that…”  Wendy stammered.

“That demon is my mom!” Dee exclaimed.

Dan and the demon nodded.

“Around thirty years ago a portal opened to the dimension I was trapped in.  As something flew in I was sucked through to the other side.  When I arrived I found myself in a world I didn’t know.  There was some young man standing around the portal desperately trying to open it again.  I didn’t know what I should do… so I ran.”

“That must have been when Grunkle Stan opened the portal and Grunkle Ford got sucked through!”  Mabel commented.

Dipper nodded. “If Grunkle Stan was so focused on reopening the portal he might not have seen someone else come through.”

“I hid for years, desperate to find a way back but… I couldn’t.  Just over twenty years ago is when I met him.”  She looked up longingly at Dan. “A strapping young woodsman happened upon me when I was weak.  He took me into his cabin and helped me back on my feet.  I… I knew something was different about him right there and not long after we wed.”

“So let me get this straight.  My mom’s a demon from Bill’s dimension that got sucked into our world when Hot Stan got sucked out?  And you’ve been living here in hiding for the last 8 years just to hide from Bill’s prying eye?”  Wendy tried to make sense of it all.

The demon nodded.  “I wanted to see you again but I couldn’t, I just couldn’t risk it just for a glimpse of you and your brothers.”

“So wait, does this mean I have like… super ice powers now?”

The demon shrugged.  “Well in time I suppose you might.  You’re half human so I’m not quite sure how it will work out.  Dan brought you to me because your powers were manifesting out of your control.  I was going to help you gain more mastery over them but it seems like you’re managing that on your own.”

Dee shook her head.  “No, that can’t be right.  If she’s half demon then so am I.  Mason says the changes only happened here because he went back.  It’s the… um what did he call it again.”

“Butterfly effect” Dipper offered up.

“Temporal reconstruction theory!” Mabel tried.  Dipper cocked an eyebrow at his sister.  “What? That was something mecha waddles was talking about.”

“Well whatever it was called he says that changes only happened from two years ago so why don’t I have ice powers?”

“Because of that axe. The axe suppresses the demon half of your blood.” Dan slowly replied.  Turning to Dee he walked over and placed his hand on the hilt. “What? You think I didn’t recognize you cause you’re a little older and cut your hair?”

“What?” Dee looked at him surprised.  “How long have you known?”

“Ever since you came to the bar the other night and caused a ruckus.  When I caught the axe old Archibald and I were connected for a second and I got the gist of what was going on.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why should I have?  You’re a grown woman, you don’t need your dad telling you what to do!”  He laughed.  Getting the laugh out of his system he once again looked at the axe. “He told me he felt the demon in you the moment you picked it up.  He suppressed it to the point that it won’t surface.  As long as you have it then you’re just a human.”

“But…”

“I bet old man Archibald told you that we abandoned our demon hunting ways!  It’s not true you know.  When you got old enough I was going to tell you… probably.”

“Probably?”

“Well… was going to let you make a decision whether to stay and follow me or do your own thing but the time to decide hasn’t really come up yet.”

“Wow.” Wendy spoke up.

“Yup, truth be told when I found your mom I was actually hunting her.  I thought she was just another demon that showed up in town that I’d have to take down but… something was different about her.  Most demons leave a trail of destruction in their wake but not your mom.   I think she was just more concerned with running than fighting.”

“I never hurt anyone, or even tried, I was too scared.  I helped out the forest creatures for a while before your father took me in.  It was sort of a job that I had been doing, mediating for them.  They started calling me their guardian.” She giggled.

“After finding out about that I couldn’t hurt her.  Archibald disagreed with me so I decided to hang up the axe.  Archibald’s ghost kept trying to possess me so that it could slay the demon so eight years ago when your mother disappeared I decided I had enough and hid the axe.  By then I had four wonderful kids to raise and no room for a angry ghost in my life.”

“Wow, this is like, a lot to take in.”  Wendy rubbed her temple.

“I’m sorry, I know there’s a lot but I’m happy that I can finally be reunited with you.”  The Demon hugged Wendy tight.  “And you too, even if you did try to kill me.”  She smiled at Dee.

“So what now?”  Dee asked.

“I need Wendy to stay with me for a while longer, until she gets a handle on her powers.”  The demon answered.  “You’re free to stay with us too.  I wouldn’t mind catching up with my girls.  Oh, I can’t believe I get to say that!”

“Girls… right.” Dan rubbed the back of his neck again.

“Wendy?” Dipper looked at Wendy waiting to see what she would say.

Wendy nodded. “I’ll stay.  I want to know all of what I can do with this.”  She held up her hand as small ice crystals began to form in the air around her palm.

“Whatabout you Dee?”  Mabel enthusiastically asked Dee.

Dee looked at her axe, the flames now but a tiny flicker of their former glory. “Tch, guess I can’t just leave well enough alone can I.  I’ll stay too.  I’ve got lots of questions for you dad.

The demon looked at the twins.  “What about you too?  You’re welcome to stay the night.  It’s not much but I actually do live well here.”

Dipper shook his head.  “Naa, I think you guys should have some family time.”

“Yeah, plus we’ve got to tell Mason that Wendy’s fine.  He was looking for you too.”  Mabel added.

Dee rolled her eyes.  “Oh crud.  I’m not going to hear the end of this.  Can you tell Mason I’m with Wendy and… maybe play down the whole demon fighting story will ya?”

The twins giggled and nodded.   “You betcha!” Mabel said as they turned towards the direction of the entrance.  

“These caves are quite cavernous.  I’ll make sure the way back is open for you so you don’t get lost.”

“Thanks Ms. Corduroy!”  Dipper actually had a little trouble saying that as it didn’t seem natural.  The demon just smiled as they waved to them and took their exit.

 

As the Twins exited the cave they realized that dusk has started to fall.  Yet no sooner did they see trees again did they also see a figure leaned against one, quietly writing in a journal.

“In ancient history there is a tale of two demons Pyro and Pago.  The demons could not be more different, one being of fire and the other of ice.   For many years they fought to a standstill, neither gaining over the other.  In the end they fought until they had no strength left and both vanished.”

“How long have you been here?” Mabel asked.

Mason looked up from his journal and smiled.  “Long enough that if I needed to step in I could.” He opened his lab coat enough to show the twins several holstered blasters.  “Seem like I didn’t”

“Did you know… about Wendy?”  Dipper asked.

Mason shook his head and smiled.  “Nope, I had no clue.”

“Man, being the kid of a demon sounds SOOO cool!” Mabel excitedly mused.

“Meh, I’m sure it has its drawbacks.”  Dipper retorted.

“Hey Dipper.”

“What?”

“Did you catch her name?”

Dipper paused, he had not.

“Pagolicity” Mason answered.  “I looked it up on the internet while I was waiting out here.  At least that’s what the family register said.”

“Hmm.” Dipper mused as he walked down the path.

“What?” Mabel asked him as she followed.

“Why does that name sound fami…”

Mason waited for them to get out of earshot before turning back to the cave entrance.   Pulling out his journal he flipped to a page with the Cipher zodiac on it.  “Ice demon.” He said quietly to himself as he scribbled out the writing he had on the page near the ice bag wrote down those words.  “I knew it, there’s more to this that we thought.  The symbols had meaning.  This changes everything.” 

Looking up to the cave one last time Mason nodded and turned down the path.

 

* * *

  

Excerpt: Journal 6: July 10, 2018 – Mabel’s medicine isn’t working.  The doctor said the dosage would have to be increased again.   Hot Belgian Waffles why did our parent choose not to have her seek help earlier.   I had to bring her up to Gravity Falls just to get the help she’s needed for 5 years.  Not to self, if you ever find that time travel guy again, having him go back and tell you to get Mabel checked out.   If we were earlier we might have been able to cure her completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long haitus the series is back on. Sorry for taking so long to post life was just not giving me the time or inspiration to continue. The next one shouldn't be as hard as it is a episode steeped in tradition (in that there is at least always one of them each season).
> 
> Anyhow, please enjoy.


	20. Ford's Tales of the Weird and Unusual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford takes some time to reflect on the smaller adventures that have been going on in Gravity Falls.

As you approach the back door of the Shack you can see Stanford Pines pacing back and forth, face buried in a new journal he seems to be writing in.  He doesn’t seem aware of your existence until just before you reach the stairs.  Quickly stopping and looking up he smiles as he sees you.

“Ah, there you are!” He exclaims, happy to see you.  “I was hoping I would catch you.  With everything that has been going on this summer it’s got me thinking.”

Ford quickly returns to his pacing, attention once again to his journal. 

“We’ve experienced a year or more worth of adventures in the short time we’ve been here, and while none have had as catastrophic an effect as Weridpocolypse last year they have been rather numerous.”

You nod at Ford, wondering what he is talking about.

“So many major events all piling up made me realize that we may miss the small things if we aren’t careful.  Because of that I’ve decided to start recounting the smaller exploits we’ve seen in this new journal.”  Ford holds up the journal for you to see.  Much like the others it is a red bound book, his hand print in gold on the cover, yet no number on this one.  “Once I’m done I’ll add it to the collection… or should I say Mason’s collection.”

Ford smiles as he paces, intrigued by the very concept he just thought of.  Quickly writing something else down in the journal he turns back to you.

“Anyhow, I wanted tell you about a few of the smaller events that have happened.  Regale you in the majesty that is Gravity Fall’s weirdness, so to speak.”

You raise your hand, trying to object but before you can say anything Ford cuts you off.

“I know, I know.  With all that’s happened this year I could write volumes about the things that went on but I’ve decided that for time’s sake I would just stick with a few.”

Flipping his journal open he settles on one of the pages.  Against your burgeoning regret for having walked up Ford starts one of his tales.

“I call this one… the Oinkinator.”  Ford begins.

 

* * *

 

 “This one’s called Walk the Dog!” Mabel giggled as she threw out the yo-yo in front of her.  Expertly holding the string as the body of the yo-yo landed a few feet in front of her and held position, even as it was spinning.

Dipper and Mabel were taking the day easy and Mabel had suggested that they play with a pair of yo-yo’s she had found in the shed.  Since neither really had much to do that day Dipper agreed figuring that he could at least pass the time until dinner.

“Okay, let me try.” Dipper swung his own yo-yo out in front of him, only to watch the body unravel from the string.  He groaned as he leaned over and picked up the body.  “Not again.”

“It’s okay, you’ll figure it out eventually.”  Mabel comforted him as she pulled her yo-yo back in.  “I mean, I’ve been doing this for a whole three hours!” She pulled back to prepare another trick.  “Check this one out!  I call it cat’s cradle and the silver spoon!”

Flinging her yo-yo out again the body once again landed and hovered in place but this time the string began to from the shape of a half crescent moon.

“Yea, I’m not even sure how that’s physically possible Mabel.”  Dipper watched the string as he would his own back up.  “Are you sure you haven’t been doing this for years?”

Mabel pulled her yo-yo back in as she shrugged.  Dipper just shook his head at the display.

“What? I’ve gotta be better than you at something.”

“I guess…” Dipper replied.

Hearing the door to the shack slam closed the two looked over to see Grunkle Ford making his way out to the parking lot.  Hoping for something more exciting that this was he quickly ran over to Ford.

“Grunkle Ford, where are you going?”  He asked as he reached the older man, just as he was opening the car door.  Dipper smiled at the potential of a new adventure with Ford.

“Oh hello Dipper.”  He sighed… or groaned, Dipper wasn’t sure which. “Stanley managed to make off with the last of my beef jerky today so I’m heading to the store to pick some more up, along with a few more things for dinner tonight.”

Dipper smile faded as it dawned on him that this was just an every day, ordinary grocery run.  “Oh I see.” He moped.  “You really do like that beef jerky.”

Ford thought, then nodded.  “After so many years in other dimensions you have no idea how good dried meat tastes on your tongue.  Well, I’m off to get more.  Oh, excellent Rube Goldberg Mabel!”  He added as he quickly ducked into the car and shut the door.

Dipper flipped around to see Mabel holding her arm out, the string of her yo-yo in the shape of a large Rube Goldberg machine.  Parts of a knot was even systematically going down the machine and through other gadgets she had shaped.

“But, gee, AHHHH!” Dipper yelled.  “THAT’S NOT EVEN PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE!”

Mabel flicked her wrist and in a flash the whole thing came apart and the yo-yo returned to her hand.

Sighing and resigning at that thing was probably a mystical artifact from the Mayan’s or something he gave up. 

“Can we do something else?”  He begged his sister who was mumbling out her thoughts on her next trick.  Excitedly she smiled and threw the yo-yo away nonchalantly.

“Okay!  What’s next?”  She chirped.

Dipper thought about it.  With Grunkle Ford taking the car there wasn’t really anywhere they could go.   Soos and Melody were in town looking for decorations for the big birthday party they were planning for the Grunkles so that was out too.  That basically left either the TV or somehow getting Stan to do something with them.   Neither prospect seemed fun as there wasn’t much to watch on TV at this time and Stan, from what they knew, wasn’t in the mood for anything today.

“Well?” Mabel asked as she watched him delve deeper into this mind.

“I’m thinking, hold on.” He brushed her off.

“Oh!  I know let’s...” Mabel started, only to be interrupted when the wind suddenly picked up.

Well, picked up would be an understatement.  The wind went from nothing to blow a pair of twins off their feet in three seconds.  Both twins quickly ducked down.  Watching a lawn sign fly by the twins looked over to large blue glowing ball of energy at the source of the, what they realized was, vacuum of air.

They air around the ball crackled with thunder as small bolts shot out scorching the grass nearby.  The twins held on for dear life as, in what was reality three seconds, they felt like they were being pulled for an eternity.  The sucking finally dying down they saw the energy ball and vanished and a small crater was left in place.

Slowly returning to their feet the twins cautiously approached the crater.  Reaching the lip they edged forward to take a peek.

“Duh duh, duh, duh duh.” Mabel hummed as they got close. “Duh duh, duh, duh duh.”

Dipper shushed her.

As they managed to get a view into the crater both twins were slightly confused at what they saw.

“Waddles?”  Mabel asked as she cocked her head.  Waddles was asleep upstairs in their room, why would he be out here?

“Mabel, look closer.”

Mabel squinted her eyes and was shocked at what she saw.  “Oh jeez, he’s naked!  Put some clothes on!” 

Dipper rolled his eyes.  “Mabel, he’s a pig, he’s always naked.”

Mabel looked at her brother and shook her head.  “Not when I put him in a matching sweater.”

Dipper raised his finger to respond but realized that he couldn’t.  She… actually had him on that one.  “Mabel, look at him closely.”  He whispered loudly to her.

Mabel squinted harder and that’s when she saw it.  It looked like Waddles had some sort of cybernetic augmentation of him.  Robotic parts strewn all around his body.  Before either could figure out what they were for Waddles began to stir.

Falling backwards the twins tried to crawl away from the crater but as they did the Cyber-Waddles made his way out and approached them.

“What… what do you want with is?”  Dipper asked, somewhat afraid and more curious.

Rather than the oink that both twins had come to love from their beloved pet they instead heard a metallic voice, almost Austrian in nature, from the voicebox at Waddle’s neck.

“You!  You’re in danger!  You must come with me if you want to live!”  Waddles replied.

“What?  What danger?”  Mabel asked, standing back up.

“I come from the future where the world has fallen to cyborg anima.  I have come back in time to save the one who leads the uprising against them.  My name is Waddles Mecha-Pines System 101 and I’ve come back to save you on the request of the rebellion.  I must save the rebel leader and eliminate the one who started the downfall of civilization!”

“Wait, who is the rebel leader?” Dipper finally regained himself to stand up.  “And who is the one who causes the world to end?”

“Its… uh…”  Waddles looked between them.  “The Pines Twin.”

“Which one?” Mabel cocked an eyebrow. “The leader or the destroyer?”

“Umm… both?”  Waddles struggles to explain.  “One of them is the leader and the other is the destroyer.”

“So which is which?” Dipper asked frustrated.

“Err… Umm…  Fine!  I admit it, I don’t know!  I can’t tell you humans apart!”

“What! Rude!”  Mabel looks away in disgust. “If my Waddles can’t even recognize me then…”

“Mabel, he’s a pig and we’re twins.  Some days _I_ can’t tell us apart.”

“Oh right…”  Mabel relents.  “So what danger are you saving us from?”

“The destroyer will send someone back another to eliminate the leader.  I’ve got to get you out of here before…”

Before he could finish the wind picked up again and once again another ball of crackling energy tore a crater in the yard.

“No, he is here.  We must go now!”

“Who’s here?” Mabel asked, curious.

Before he could answer out of the mist left over from the transport a single figure walked out… on all fours.  The figure, cloaked in the mist locked its red eye on the two twins as it approached, then stopped, kneeling it’s head down and chomping on some grass.  As the mist cleared it became obvious who had come out.

“Gompers?”  Dipper looked at the goat confused.  He could see it too had mechanical parts attached to its body.

“BAAAAAA.” The goat looked up and yelled at the kids.  A fiery laser shot out from its eyes in their direction.  Ducking at the last second the two finally realized what danger they were in when they looked behind and realized one of the trees behind them now had two burning holes in it.

“Go, now!  I will hold it off!”  Waddles shouted to the twins.  His own pair of laser cannons popped out of his back.

Heeding his words the twins quickly turned tail and bolted for the back of the shack.  Laser after laser shot out past them as they barely missed each time thanks to the interference of Waddles.

“Is he shooting at me or you?”  Mabel asked as she ducked out of the way of one of the shots only to see her brother do the same.

“I don’t know.  I think he’s like Waddles and can’t tell us apart.  He’s probably just trying to guess his target.”

Mabel stopped in her tracks, a laser shot zipped past her singeing a small amount of her hair.  Dipper looked at his sister with worry as another shot whizzed past him.

“Mabel are you crazy!  We’ve got to run!”

His sister seemed to be lost in thought for a second before looking into his eyes.

“Dipper, I think I have an idea!  Follow me.”  She turned away and began to run for the shack again, this time the gift shop entrance.  Confused Dipper had no choice but to rush after her.

Stan sat on the love seat enjoying the last bag of beef jerky he had found in the kitchen when Dipper and Mabel came barreling through then seconds later hissing and oinking behind them came a laser firing Gompers and Waddles after them.  Stan took another bite of the jerky, eyes not leaving the TV.

“Yup, I don’t wanna know.”  He said as he grabbed the remote to change the channel.

When Gompers and Waddles made it to the Twin’s bedroom they found the door shut.  After a brief shuffle Gompers managed to burn the handle off, allowing the door to open.  The two animals entered to see Dipper standing in the middle of the room, holding his hands out and backing slowly against the wall.

“Now guys, this isn’t what it looks like.  Nobody has to get hurt, we can all talk this out.”  Dipper gave a weak smile, the one a defeated foe gives just before you finish it off. 

Gompers eye focused in on Dipper, the red targeting light scanning his body before landing on his forehead.

“BAAAAAA” The goat exclaimed as the sound of the laser charging up filled the room.

“You don’t have to do this!” Dipper called from behind the two animals. 

Flipping around they saw that Dipper was standing in the alcove behind them.  Confused Waddle’s Iris opened up as it scanned the room.

Both Dipper slowly made their way to each other.  Finally standing next to each other both Waddles and Gompers could only look between the two.

“BAAAA?”

“I don’t understand.  There can’t be two of them.  Who is the destroyer then?”

“Guys,” One Dipper began, “We don’t have to fight!  We can work this out!”

“Yea!” The other Dipper added.  “Remember the good old days.   Remember when you two meant something to each other?”

One of the Dippers produced a scrapbook from behind his back.  They flipped it open to the page showing Waddles and Gompers wedding, then another page showing the two rolling in mud, and another, and another.

“I… I can’t….” Waddles drooped his head.  “I can’t fight you anymore.  I love my masters but… I love you more!”

Gompers looked back at Waddles with a blank look on his face.  “BAAAAAA.”

“Me too.   To heck with our orders, let’s go back and start our own group where we can all live together and be happy!”

Gompers turned and started to walk to the doorway, followed by Waddles. They stopped short as they looked back at the Dippers.  “We’ll be…” Waddles started.

“BAAAAAA” Gompers finished.

The Dippers watched as the animals made their way back out to their respective craters, and in a brilliant flash of energy like the first time they disappeared.

Both Dippers took a sigh of relief as the cyborgs disappeared.

“That was good thinking.” Dipper said to the other Dipper.

“Thank you!” The other Dipper smiled back.  The smile fading the Dipper took a whiff of the vest he was wearing.  “Seriously?  When was the last time you washed this?”

The first Dipper tried hard to think up an answer but was thankfully interrupted by a questioning oink from the doorway.  Waddles, their Waddles, had made his way in and was looking at the two.

“Well at least my Waddles knows who I am.  Come here Waddles!” The other Dipper called out.

Waddles looked between the two for a second, confused, before walking up one of the Dippers and nudging his snout into their leg.

“Uhh…. Wrong one dude.” Dipper tired to warn Waddles.

“WADDLES!”  The other Dipper shouted in anger.   Finally pulling off her hat Mabel’s hair fell down to her side again.  “REALLY?”

Correctly seeing his friend Waddles ran over to Mabel who picked the pig up and snuggled with him before holding him tight.

“Ugh.  Man we deal with time travel way too much.  If we ever have to deal with it again I think I’m going to freak out. Blendin twice, plus the Time Pirates, and now this?  Man I am so done with the space-time continuum.”

“Yup.” Mabel nodded in agreement.

Dipper let out a sigh as he heard the door to the back slam shut.

“Kids!  Where are you?”  Ford called out. 

“We’re up here!” Dipper called out as he started to run down the stairs.  No doubt Ford wanted to know more about the two craters that now inhabited their back yards.

As the room became still Mabel held Waddles in her arms.  Putting him at arm’s length she stared into his eyes.  “Cyborgs huh…  Naaa.”  She pulled him back in for a big hug before running down to join her brother.

 

* * *

  

Ford finishes his story as you snaps back to attention.  You jostle yourself awake, having dozed off slightly sitting on the couch.

“Hmm. I do suppose that seems a little far-fetched.  Time traveling barn animals was a bit of a hard pill to swallow myself but I trust that Dipper and Mabel wouldn’t have made that up.  Well I trust that Dipper wouldn’t have at least.”

You sigh deeply.  There are other places you would rather be than here right now but it doesn’t look like Ford is going to let you go if his searching through his journal is any indication.

“Ah, this one was interesting too.  This time I can actually recall it myself as I was there.   I call this one ‘The Switcharoo’”

You groan and rub your neck as he begins again.

 

* * *

  

It had been a hard night for Ford.  There was so much to be done up at the manor now that Mason was around and yet there was never enough time to do it.  Never the less Ford was determined to assist his nephew with things that were so advanced he honestly hadn’t even he imagined he would encounter them in all his life.  Mason’s portal and other gadgets were way beyond what he had ever worked with and Fiddleford’s mind was expanding at a rapid rate to the point that he was inventing a new gadget every day.

And that was why, when Ford realized that he couldn’t finish everything at the manor that night he decided to take it home with him.  _What_ it was actually was something he wanted to know himself.  Fiddleford had told him it was an invention that he had created to install into the portal for stability of transport.  What he meant by that Ford didn’t actually know but he had been working on adjusting the parameters all night in the kitchen.

And that’s exactly where they found him the next morning.  With Ford slightly drooling on the table out cold the rest of them tried their best to not wake him.  It wasn’t easy, the device took up half the table and Ford basically took up the other. 

Soos flipped the pancakes again as the batter sizzled.  “Who’s ready for seconds?” He whispered over the stove to the rest.

Dipper, Mabel, Melody, Abby, and Stan were all around the table, or at least the best they could be with Ford taking up so much of it.  Abby quickly raised her hand, pancake still stuck in her fork as bits of the syrup flung into the air.

“Me! Me!”  She waved her hand back and forth.  Melody shushed her so she would be a little quieter but it was to no avail.

Soos chuckled under his breath as he slid the pancakes onto her plate.  “Eat up dudes, there’s plenty more where that came from.”

As Abby dove into her next batch Mabel tried to lean around the counter to see Stan. “Grunkle Stan, shouldn’t we wake him up?”

Stan rolled his eyes as he took another sip of coffee. “Good luck with that.  This is the sleep he does when he’s worked himself out.  I’ve never been able to wake him from it before.”

“Mhmm.” Mabel pouted.  She didn’t really have any place to put her plate on the table and it was getting hard cutting her food as she balanced it on her knees.  “Maybe we can move this thing?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Mabel.”  Dipper replied, not even looking up from his plate that he too was trying to cut with no luck.

“It is getting hard to eat like this.” Melody admitted.  “Are you _sure_ we can’t wake him?”

Stan sighed.  Putting his coffee down he got up.  “Fine, I’ll just move the thing myself.  If Ford’s got a problem with it then he can complain when he wakes up.”

Grabbing the machine as carefully as he could Stan attempted to lift it up.   “Oh boy, this suckers heavy.”  Stan grunted as he tried to pull.  Heavy it may be he did manage to get a grip on it and lifted it from the table.  “He owes me for this.”  Stan added as he moved over to the corner.

Just as he neared his destination he realized his grip wasn’t good enough to place it on the floor.  Deciding he needed to adjust it he let loose one side and grabbed the another handhold.  No sooner did he handle the other side did he realize the problem.  It was slick and gooey , like someone got syrup on it…

Stan didn’t need to think about who would do that because his mind was concentrating on finding a new handhold so the thing didn’t fall.  Unfortunately for him he wasn’t able to find one in time and the device went crashing to the floor and a blinding light filled the room.

Ford felt groggy as he lifted his heavy eyelids.  He must have dozed off after a while, working on Fiddleford’s invention.  Yawning he looked up to see Dipper and Mabel setting across from him with very shocked looks on their faces.  Ford rubbed his eyes and blinked as he looked as his nephew and niece.  Something was off about them today.

Staring for a second in their gaping silence it dawned on him what it was.  For some reason the two of them were wearing each other’s clothes.  Dipper was wearing Mabel’s Sweater and Mabel Dipper’s vest.  Deciding this must be some weird kid’s ritual he shrugged it off.

“Good morning you two.” Ford said… or at least he thought he said.  What came out instead didn’t sound much like him at all, it sounded more like… his mother.

Clearing his throat Ford tried again. “Ahem.  Good morning.” Again, it sounded like his mother.

“Oh no, this is _not_ happening.” He heard another unfamiliar voice call out behind him.  It was someone else that sounded a little like his mother.  Turning to see who it was Ford’s jaw dropped in shock.

Standing near the corner of the room was an older woman who looked… well she looked like a bigger version of their mother.  Standing not too far from him was a woman who looked like a much younger Abuelita. 

Shaking his head he scanned around the room and saw Melody with her jaw to the floor and Abby clapping excitedly.  Ford couldn’t figure out what the excitement was all about this early in the morning and who were these ladies.

Yet as he processed it the thought dawned on him that he was in the company of ladies and he quickly looked down to make sure he was decent.  That was when it dawned on him.  Pushing out from his turtleneck Ford realized he now had a rather hefty pair of… well he had a ladies chest.

“What on earth?” Again the woman’s voice came out from his mouth.  “What’s going on here?”  He looked up to the twins for answers.

“Umm…” Mabel started.

“We’ve got Granuties now!”  Dipper shouted excitedly.

“Wha… What?”  Ford could only asked, stunned.

“Uh, now don’t get mad,” The older woman behind hesitantly started, “but I think that thing you were working on last night _may have_ turned us into women.

“May have?”  Ford asked as he looked down again, this time standing up to see the full extent of the damage.  Yup, his chest was bulging out.  He closed his eyes and reached down, hoping to find what he was looking for.

It was gone…

Just… gone…

“STANLEY!” Ford instinctively shouted at the top of his lungs.

The old woman in Stan’s clothes jumped back, catching his attention.  Ford stared at her, eyes burning with fury.

“What… have… you… done?”

Stan tried to motion to the device but when he realized that Ford was just looking at him his, or her should one say, stance changed.

“What have I done?  I DONE?” She belched out angrily.  “You’re the braniac who brought this… what-it into the house!”  Stomping up to Ford she poked him in the chest harshly to get the point across as to who was at fault.

“Ow, Stop that!”  Ford brushed her off.  The two stared angrily at each other for a moment.  The though crossed his mind that fighting his brother wasn’t going to get anywhere so he let himself calm down as he tried to think of options. 

A quick scan of the machine told him he wouldn’t just be able to put it back together again, not without help that is, so that was out of the question.  In all reality there was only one option he had left to him. He sighed as he admitted what he knew he had to do.  “I’m going to have to call Fiddleford and have him tell me how to fix the machine.”

Stan crossed her arms expectantly.  Looking around he started to take stock of who was who.   He figured that the woman who looked like Abuelita must be Soos, no doubt about that.  Abby looked the same, and so did Melody.  It was possible that whatever effect that this thing had might have missed them since they were the two farthest from the retched thing.  The two of them had gone up to Soos and Melody was trying to answer questions that Abby had with him.

Finally he looked at the twins, staring at him diligently for answers as he tried to decipher his next move.  At that moment Waddles had finally made his way into the room.  This got their attention as Mabel, or was it Dipper, called out to the pig.

“Come’ere Waddles!”  The boy wearing the sweater called out.

The pig cocked his head to the side in confusion before walking up to the girl wearing Dippers cloths and nudging her for attention.

“Dangit not again!  WADDLES!”  The boy wearing Mabel’s cloths shouted.  The pig looked up confused before bolting back out of the kitchen.

Ford shook his head.  No point in delaying this further as he quickly made his way into the family room to where the phone was.  Stan had followed him into the room and waited by the doorway as Ford picked up the receiver and dialed Fiddleford’s number.

It rang three time before the man on the other end picked up.  “McGucket here!  What can I do for you?”

“Fiddleford it’s me.”

He could hear the confusion on the other end.  “Uhh… Is this my raccoon wife?  I thought the divorce was finalized.  I’m not giving you anything else!”

‘Wha… no!  It’s me, Stanford.  Stanford Pines.”

“That’s funny!  You don’t sound like him!”

“Fiddleford, something’s happened.  Do you remember that machine you had me take home last night, the one that helped with the portal?”

“Oh right!  You mean the micro-reality stabilizer!  I see you brought it back this morning when I wasn’t looking.”

Ford shook his head.  “What are you talking about?  I haven’t returned it yet.  Actually I wanted to talk to you about what it does.”

“Um… are you sure you didn’t bring it back?”

“Yes I am.”

“Well then, call me a reality splitting hootenanny cause it’s sitting right here next to me.”

“How can that be?  That doesn’t mak…  Wait.  Fiddleford, did you have anything else next to it last night.”

Fiddleford paused as was thinking about the events of their last night.  “Yessum.  I think I had one of the experiments I created when I was plum mad.”  He went quiet for a second.  “Well would you look at that, its missing!”

Ford face palmed at the sudden realization that he must have taken the wrong experiment home last night.  Great, so he spent all night working on something that Fiddleford made when he was insane.

“Tell me, what does that thing do?”  Ford asked cautiously.

“Let me think.   Now I was insane at the time, mind you, and I was having really bad thoughts.”

“And?”

“And I think it was the one that implodes the universe!”

“What!”  Ford shouted in surprise.  The shock of the danger that posed now flushed all of the color from his face.

“Oh wait.   Nope, that wasn’t right.  That one’s still right here.  It looks like the one you took swaps a person’s gender.”

Ford breathed a sigh of relief as the color returned to his face.  “Oh thank goodness.”  Clearing his throat he asked the question that was burning on his mind.  “So how do we reverse it?  It seems we accidentally set it off here.”

“Err… I didn’t think that far.  _Insane_ remember?”  He heard Fiddleford grunt on the other end.  “I know!  I can make a device that undoes the effects but…”

“But?”

“It uh, might take me a while to get it ready.   Sorry Ford but you’re going to have to be a woman for a while.”

Ford growled at the thought but stopped when he realized that, at the very least, it was reversible.  Besides, what’s a day or two as the fairer sex anyway?

“Alright, keep me posted on your progress and Fiddleford…”

“Yes?”

“Please make sure you label your inventions from now on.”

“Right…”

Ford set down the receiver as his shoulder drooped.  It would be easy just to shut themselves in and wait this out, well for him at least.  Looking up at the concerned look on Stan’s face told him that it might not be so simple for everyone else. 

Walking back to the kitchen he began to debate how he could tell everyone.  It didn’t take long for him to realize he wouldn’t have to.  No sooner did he reach the kitchen did he see Melody grabbing her keys and heading for the door with the others in tow.

“Where are you going?”  Ford asked her.

She looked back, then to the others.  “We’re going shopping at the mall.  Look, as much as I love having Soos as a lady I’ve got no clothes for him to wear and his Mr. Mystery outfit is just not big enough.”

Ford thought about it himself.  If they would be forced to stay in this form for a few days having clothes that were comfortable would be a necessity.  His turtleneck was lovely but his new… accessories… made it incredibly tight.  Nodding back he motioned for Stan to get his keys so they could drive together.

Splitting up Dipper and Mabel got in the car with Stan and Ford, while Melody drove Soos and Abby.  They weren’t even half way there when he heard shuffling in the back seat.

“I really don’t want to wear this Mabel.”  He heard Mabel, or he guess it was probably Dipper now, say.

“Yea, neither did I but if you’re going to do any sort of moving you’re going to want it.  Trust me, those puppies get sore in a sweater.”

Ford had been tempted to turn around but the thought of what was going on back there made him immediately stop.  He saw Stan shudder a little as he caught the sight in the rear view mirror.

A minute later the shuffling stopped and he took a look behind him.  The twins had obviously swapped clothes as Mabel looked like she was wearing her sweater again and Dipper was in his vest.  Or vice versa, again he was still getting used to this.

“Aren’t you two bothered by this?”  Ford asked them as he watched the boy pull something out of a bag in front of him.  Ford realized it was a bottle of perfume

The girl shook her head.  “Not really.  To be honest this isn’t the first time Mabel and I have been gender swapped, although last time it was our complete bodies and not just our genders.  We just make do and roll with the punches.”

The boy nodded.  “Yup, nothing really bothers me about a boy’s body anymore… thanks Grunkle Stan.”

Stan looked up confused.  “What’d I do?”

The boy giggled.  “Nothing!”  He uncorked the bottle and sprayed a bit of the perfume on himself.  “Well, I guess the smell does.”  He shot a look at the girl.

“Hey, don’t blame me.  It’s not my fault that my body’s getting sweatier.”

Ford turned back in his seat and watched the road go by as the mall approached on the horizon.  ‘I guess those kids will be fine’ he assured himself as his mind went to the dangerous prospect of Fiddleford not being able to fix this.

Both cars parked in the lot, nearly empty at this time of day, as their contents poured out.  Ford was still uncomfortable with the whole thing and being in public wasn’t helping.

“Okay, change of plans guys.” Melody called out as they met at the doors.  “Turns out Abby here got affected too and just didn’t realize it.”  Everyone looked over at her.  Nothing really seemed different about her as she shrugged.  “Kids, you guys are going to take her get some new clothes… take him.  Get whatever you want, just no Edgy on Purpose.”

Dipper and Mabel nodded.

“I’m going to take Soos and figure out if we can’t find something for him.”  She shot a stare at the Stans. “I _trust_ the two of you can handle yourself in the women’s clothing department.”

Stan rubbed the back of his neck and Ford looked away laughing nervously as they tried to agree with Melody.

She just rolled her eyes at the two.  “Whatever.   We’ll meet back here one everyone’s gotten some decent clothes on.”

With that she grabbed Soos and dragged him in.

It wasn’t really that hard for the old men to find the Women’s section of the store they chose.  The problem was picking something out.   Since it was summer there were a lot of breezier dresses and shorter skirts laying around and honestly neither man had any sort of fashion sense to go with their new bodies.

“Hey Ford!” Stan called out.  As he turned he saw that Stan was holding up a red cut off t-shirt and a pair of short shorts against himself.  “What do you think?  Do I make this or do I make this?”

“I would no sooner have my eyes scooped out with a melon baller than watch you wear that.” Ford replied in disgust.

“Yea, I guess you’re right.  Red’s just not my color.”  He admitted as he turned and replaced the shirt.

For was about to explain again when a pain started to develop in his chest, it was a soreness he had never felt before.

“Oww.” He exclaimed as he rubbed the sore spots on the center of his chest.  Stan looked at him for a moment before something dawned on him.

“Oh right.  I guess that makes sense.”

“What does?” Ford asked, looking up at him.

Stan scanned the horizon looking for something as Ford waited.  Spotting what he was looking for he motioned for Ford to follow.

“I figure we should take care of the… uh… undergarments first.”

“Wait… you mean the…”  Before he could finish he realized that Stan had led him right into ladies underwear section.  Strewn out before him was all sorts of garments ranging from lingerie to the simplest of cloth to hold you in.  “Stanley we shouldn’t be…”

He stopped again as he watched Stan pick up several bras, holding them up to his chest to try to see if it is a match.  Having no luck as it Stan gave a look of frustration.

“Stanley I don’t think you’re going to figure it out that way.  You’ll probably have to try a few on to see which fits.”  Ford offered

Stan sighed. “Fine… I’ll be right back.”  Grabbing a stack of Bras he made his way into the dressing room just to the side. 

Ford turned to the garments and began to peruse the selection himself.  He didn’t really have any idea what his size was either but he figured once he found one he liked he’d be able to figure out the size.

“I just don’t know how women are able to decide on these.  Between the frills and such it seems like a monumental task.”  He said out loud to himself.

“Oh it’s not hard.” A woman commented behind him.

Turning around he noticed that Lazy Susan was walking his way with a smile on her face.

“Well then, how do you know what you are?  It just makes no sense to me.”

Susan opened her lazy eye and looked at Ford confused.  “Whaaat?  You don’t normally wear one?”

Ford blushed as he turned away.  “Err, no.  This would be my first time.”

“Oh, you must be one of those free range women!  Don’t worry, I’ve got a sure fire way to tell you what size you are!”

“Oh. Well if you don’t mind I could use the help.” Ford turned back to her and smiled.  The faster he got past this the faster they could get back to Fiddleford.

What Ford had been expecting was for here to somehow produce a length of measuring tape and, as he would research later, go through the proper steps to measure out her bust.  What happened instead was that Susan, still holding her other eyes open, used her free arm to push up on his chest and weight in her hand like she was observing a melon at the market.  After bouncing it to see the weight she let it fall back to the earth.

“You’re a 42 DD!”  She told him exuberantly.

“Thanks…”  Was all Ford could manage as he stood there stunned.

“Oh my pleasure!”  She replied as she turned back to her own shopping.

It took until Stan came out of the dressing room for Ford to break for the shock.  Stan shook his brother hard to snap him out of his stupor before giving him a curiously confused look.

“What happened to you poindexter?  The garments too much for your advanced civility?”  When Ford didn’t reply Stan shrugged and placed the unneeded garments back on the rack.  “Turns out I’m a 42 DD.  Who’d have thought?”

Ford was now done with this day.

 

Mabel stood outside of the Teen’s Choice clothing store as she waited for Dipper and Abby to finish picking out Abby’s new clothes.   She and Dipper already knew they would probably just swap clothing for a while but when it came to guys fashion she figured she ought to give Dipper a chance to shine.  He probably wouldn’t, mind you, as she knew his fashion sense was terrible but at least it was only for a short time.

She tapped her foot as the two of them were taking their time, which was odd in itself.  She wasn’t impatient or anything but there were _way_ better things she could be doing in a boy’s body right now.  It didn’t dawn on her that being at the mall might have its downsides until she heard a voice call out from across the walkway.

“Dipper?”  Mabel looked up to see none other than Pacifica waving at him from across the walk.

“I’m not Dipp…” She stopped herself.  While she _could_ say that she wasn’t her brother and explain the situation a more wicked thought crossed her mind.  Waving back she shouted.  “Hey Pacifica!”

She watched as the blond girl made her way over to the cross and onto her side of the walkway.  Mabel took a quick glance in the store to see what her brother was up to.  Sure enough he wasn’t looking this way, instead he seemed wholly more interested in something Abby must have been doing just out of sight.

“Dipper… hi…” Pacifica said as she approached.  Mabel could see that she was blushing a bit.  

‘Oh, this is too perfect.’ She thought to herself.  “Sup baby.”  Mabel tried to act all cool, leaning back even though there was nothing to lean against.

“Dipper?  Are you okay?” She asked, confusion filling her face.

‘Drat… Think more like Dipper.  Think dorky thought!’ She thought, trying to recover.  “Nevermind me, how you doing?”  Again she acted more like Robbie would, she realized, than Dipper but oh well.

“Are you feeling alright?  Are you sick or something?”  She leaned forward to try to feel Mabel’s head only to reel back when she got close.  “Oh gross! What is that smell?”

“What smell?” Mabel asked as she took a whiff of her vest.  She could barely still smell the stench of Dipper on it but through the perfume she had put on.  “I don’t smell it?”

“Ugh, you smell like someone doused you in Mabel’s cheap perfume.   What is that scent, poverty?

“Hey!  I’ll have you know I like this…” She started to defend her choice in perfumes when she heard a thud on the glass of the glass of the store.   Slowly turning she saw Dipper staring at her with flames in his eyes.

“Is that Mabel?  Wow, she looks angry for some reason.”

Dipper bolted for the door and Mabel quickly turned around and started a dead run.  “Gotta go, bye!”  She exclaimed as she took off in the opposite direction.   A second later Dipper, or Mabel in Pacifica’s mind bolted after her brother in a dead heat. 

“What was that about?”  Pacifica asked herself.  A moment later another young man came dashing out of the store after the two.  Pacifica stood surprised at how good looking the guy was in his designer clothes.  “Wow, did Mabel get a boyfriend and I didn’t know about it?”  She asked herself as she watched the three barrel down the hallway, out of sight.

 

Soos did a pirouette in front of the mirror as he admired himself in his new summer dress.  A yellow and green dress that Melody had picked out fit him like a charm and, if he should say so himself, he looked amazing in it.

Stepping out of the dressing room to rejoin her Melody looked him over.  “Do I know how to pick um or what?”  She smiled as she affirmed what he thought.

“Yeah dude, I look like I could take the whole world on!”  He flipped the dress a little so the bottom fluttered around.  “So what’s next?”

Melody seemed almost giddy at the prospect of what was on her plate.  “Well we could start with some makeup, or how about we figure out your accessories!”

Soos smiled at her.  It was such a gentle yet loving smile that warmed her heart.  There was no man that made her feel so loved like he did. 

“Whatever you think is best. Dude, I’m ready for whatever you got!” He pumped his arm, ready to take that whatever on.

“Oh Soos, I love it how you just fit right in.” She smiled as she walked up to him and gave him a big smooch.   Soos reciprocated by wrapping his hands around her back and pulling her in, but not too much as he wanted to make sure she was comfortable with her belly so far out.

The kiss, while lovingly like Soos’s kisses always were was a bit different.  Instead of the slight roughness that was his almost childlike mustache this kiss was smooth like silk.  His grip, while still strong, had a certain gentleness to it that he didn’t often have.

Breaking the kiss she stepped back, arms still around her lover as she looked him in the eyes.  Those deep loving eyes that told her that she was special.  Eyes that she wanted to look into for the rest of her life.

“Hehe,” Soos giggled, “That was nice.”  He quickly looked around and spotted something.  “Oh, I think we should get my accessories next!” He let her go as he darted away to the jewelry counter.

Melody’s gaze followed him, her smile bright, until she stopped on two figures who had watched the whole thing.  Standing not even twenty feet away was Deputy Durland and Sheriff Blubs.  The look on their faces was a mixture of confusion and shock.  Thinking about it she wasn’t really sure what so surprising to them was.

Then the thought of what _they_ saw hit her.  Her jaw dropped as she quickly tried to explain.  “It’s not what you think!  It’s…”

“It’s okay!  If anyone in town is going to accept you for what you are it’d be us.” Blubs cut her off reassuringly.

“No I mean, with Soos and…” Melody was all kinds of beet red as she lost the ability to speak.  She had no idea how to explain this and adding to the fact that if it got out what would she say to the rest of the town?

“We know how it is.  You two made an arrangement and this is just you blowing off some steam.   Don’t worry, your secrets safe with us!”

“Yea, safe with us.” Durland reaffirmed.

Melody sighed.  This day was trying enough on her and now this.  She gave up on trying to explain as the two policemen gave her a big smile and a wink of their own before turning and strolling away.  She closed her eyes tightly hoping that when she opened them she would be back in bed next to Soos this morning and none of this happened. 

No such luck as when Soos called out to her she opened her eyes to see that it was still the store.  Soos trotted up to her wearing a gold plated necklace with a large question mark hanging from the chain.

“What do you think of this one?” Soos asked her.

She could only give him a weak stare as her body started to give out from the exhaustion of the situation.  “I give up.” Was all she could manage as she watched him give her a look of confusion.

 

The car ride back to the shack was interesting as Ford never spoke a word, he just stared off into the distance while Dipper kept yelling at Mabel for possibly screwing up his life.  In the other car Melody fell asleep, too tired to continue this day any more.  Only Abby seemed normal as she was bobbing up and down in her chair wearing her new designer jeans and long sleeve shirt.

Pulling into the shack they noticed an extra car waiting for them.  Everyone barring Melody, who was still asleep in her chair, got out and saw that Fiddleford had arrived with a new machine much like the one they had broken this morning.

“Is that the…” Stan shouted to Fiddleford who quickly cut him off.

“Sure is!  This thingamajig is exactly what you need to get fixed right up!”  He stopped and blinked as he looked at the gathered crowd.  “Ya’ll sure you want to go back?  I mean, this is a once in a lifetime experience.  I could always come back tomorrow.”

“Actually it’s not bad being…”  Soos started.

“YES!”  Dipper and Ford yelled out as they both reached to silence Soos.

Fiddleford just shrugged as he fiddled with a knob on the machine.  “Alright!  Three, two, one!”

He hit a button and everyone reeled back as a bright flash of light filled their eyes.   The flash fading everyone quickly began to check to see the effects.

“It’s… It’s back!” Ford cried out in celebration.

“Aww, I wanted to be Dipper a little while longer.” Mabel bemoaned.

“No, and let’s never switch bodies again!” Dipper chided his sister.

Everyone sure of their own status they looked up to thank their savior.  Fiddleford stood there staring back, confused look on his face as he saw the shock on theirs.

“Whatsa matter?” He asked before looking at himself.   Fiddleford noticed that he himself was now a member of the fairer sex.  Looking down at his machine and seeing it smoking, and even melting in a few places, he shrugged.  “Oh well.  Workplace hazard I guess.”

He was met with a mixture of groans and laughter.

 

* * *

  

Shutting the book again Ford stared out into the distance for a long moment.  Quietly adjusting something under his shirt he turned back to you.

“Maybe I shouldn’t write that one down.”

You face palm at the suggestion as he flips the journal back open and begins searching through it.  Landing on another page he smiles.

“Aha!  This one is a good one!”  You try to stealthily get past him as his nose is deep in the book again but no to avail.  “This is a tale about the scariest time of a person’s life…”

You stop to think of what he might mean.  The thought dawns on you too late as all you can do is give a horrified look on your face back at him.

“HIGH SCHOOL!” Ford shouts as he begins his story.

 

* * *

 

 Sherman held on as Stan made a hard right onto the roadway.  He, Stan, Mabel, and Dipper were all headed over to the Gravity Falls High School for a tour of the building.  Sherman had arranged a tour of the facility and Stan, seeing as he had a car and was nearby, got dragged in also.

“So why are we going to the school again?”  Dipper asked from the back seat. 

“Because I figured since you both are going to high school next year that I would let you guys check out what that has to offer.”  Sherman explained.

“Yeah but were going to a high school in Piedmont, not Gravity Falls.”

“Err, well…”  Sherman looked at Stan who could only shrug at him.  “I figured it wouldn’t hurt to see one a little different.  You know, see how the other side of fence looks like.”

“Okay…” Dipper seemed to accept the answer.

Silently Sherman breathed a sigh of relief.  If they knew the real reason he was taking them he’d have a whole lot of explaining to do and it wasn’t really a good time for that yet.

As they reached the high school the twins looked out to see if anyone had messed with the board yet.  No such luck as it still said ‘Have a Great Summer!’

“I bet Lee and Thompson change it as soon as Tambry and Robbie get back in town.”  Mabel commented disappointedly. 

Pulling up they saw two older men arguing by the front door.  “Ah, that must be the principal.  We spoke on the phone and he said he’d meet us here.” Sherman pointed out as they got out of the car.

They could already hear the two men speaking from the parking lot and it only got louder as they approached.

“And I told you before.  I’m not going to be the Phys Ed teacher too!  We don’t need that class, this is a place of higher learning!”

“Listen Pult, our last coach quit so suddenly and you’re the only teacher I have that has free time in the evenings.  Please just consider it.”  The older heavy set and balding man paused.  “There’s even a big raise along with it.” He tried to add.

The shorter, lankier man groaned.  “Dean, I can’t.  You know what happened before.  I just…”

The man stopped speaking as he noticed the approaching group.   Pointing them out to the other man he stood back.   The larger man turned and warmly smiled at the group.

“Ah, Mr. Pines!  How good to finally meet you!”  He offered out his hand and Sherman took it.

“Please, call me Sherman.   This is my brother Stanley.” He motioned over to Stan.  “And these are my grandchildren…”

“Dipper and Mabel!  Ah yes, you two have become a bit of a local legend.  It great to finally meet the Mystery Twins in person.”  The man offered out his hand to them.  Dipper took it and shook while Mabel tried a fancy handshake technique she had no dubiety seen on a TV show or movie. “Whoa there, quite some grip you have.  Anyhow, my name is Dean Rictor but please call me Dean.  I’m the principal at Gravity Falls High.”

“Dean, as I asked on the phone I was hoping you could give the kids a quick tour.”

Dean’s smile faded as he took a glance over at the other man.  “Unfortunately I can’t.  You see I seem to be in a bind as I need to find a new Phys Ed teacher before the summer ends.”  A thought crosses his mind as his smile returns.  “I’ve got it!  Pult, how about you give the tour in my stead.  It’s the least you can do since you’re here.”

The lankier man looked back and shook his head.  “What? You’re going to have me do it?”

“Yes, yes you are.  Now please show them around and make sure they have a good time.”  Dean told him as he began to walk out to the parking lot.

“But, but I.  Urgh, fine.”  He waited until Dean was out of earshot before addressing his new wards.  “I’m Mr. Geist, the science teacher.  If you will please follow me this way I’ll take you around the school.”

Without waiting for a response the man turned oh his heel and quickly made his way inside.  Stan shrugged at Sherman who motioned for the kids to follow.  Walking along Mr. Geist pointed out several rooms.

“That one is a Math room, and that one is too.  Those are both English classes over there.”  He unenthusiastically gave them the tour.

“So, Mr. Geist, how long have you been teaching here at Gravity Falls High?”

Geist stopped and looked at Sherman with a look of annoyance.  Rolling his eyes he turned and started walking again.  “I have taught here for over thirty years, but before that I was a student here too.”

“Wait, you went here?”  Stan asked.

Mr. Geist nodded.  “Yes.  Even after all the incidents that have happened over the years I’ve stuck around.”

“Incidents?” Dipper asked, curious.

“You hear about them in every school I’m sure.  Doors opening and closing, books being moved, and the like.   I’m sure they’re just janitor’s ghost stories to make the kids act more prim and proper.”

Rounding the corner he pointed out several additional rooms.  “These are the science labs, Biology on the right, Chemistry on the left, and my personal favorite Physics at the end.”

“Why is that one your favorite?” Mabel asked.

“Because I teach it.” He snapped back.  “Now if you’ll come along I’ll show you the Cafeteria next.”

Hanging back a moment Sherman let the four of them get out of sight.  “Right, now for what I’ve come for.”  He quickly turned and opened the door to the chemistry lab and ducked in.

Pulling the Journal from his pouch he set it down on the counter and quickly flipped through it to the page he had marked this morning.   Content he knew what he was looking for he began to scan the room for his target.  

“Bingo!” He exclaimed quietly as he saw the container of glowing blue liquid setting in the case.  Trying to open it he realized it was, of course, locked but that wouldn’t stop him.   Grabbing small cylinder from his bag he held it over the lock and pressed a button.  The light whine of a small motor running filled his ears until he heard a click.  Replacing the cylinder into his bag he popped open the door and quickly snatched the sealed container, putting it into his bag as he closed the case again.

Walking over to the table where he had left the journal grabbed it but stopped when he heard a voice.

“Grandpa Sherman?” Mabel called out to him from the doorway.  Sherman froze, journal in hand as his mind began to race.  “What cha doing?”

“Umm…”  Sherman had to think quick or he could blow everything they were working for.   “I was just relishing in a bit of nostalgia from my days in high school.” He finally replied as he slowly replaced the journal in his pouch.  He hoped beyond hope she hadn’t seen it as Mason had specifically warned him against letting them see the journal, lest they recognized it.

Sherman watched his granddaughter for any sign that she was alarmed by what he was doing.  Yet, all she did was smile at him and walk closer.   Worried, Sherman closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable.  She must have seen it and she was about to expose him.

Instead… he felt her wrap her arms around him.  Opening his eyes he saw that she was hugging him while looking up and smiling.  “I bet you had a bunch of fun in high school.”

Sherman smiled back, relieved that nothing had happened.  “Yeah, it was a lot of fun.”  He leaned down to hug his granddaughter back.

The serene scene was broken only by a scream coming from down the hall.  The two quickly bolted from the class room to see what was going on.  Following the scream the two made their way to the gym and once they arrived they were treated to a very spectacular scene.

All around the air gym equipment, from balls to weights to towels, were floating round the air.  Mr. Gheist, Dipper, and Stan were cornered by a set of wet towels that had twisted and looked like they were about to snap.

“Dude stop this!” Dipper shouted at Mr. Ghiest.

“What are you talking about?  This isn’t me!” 

“I know it is!  You just said you’ve never left Gravity Falls High since you graduated!”

“I meant as a profession!”

“Oh…”  Dipper trailed off as they jumped out of the way of the snapping towels.

“Dipper!” Mabel exclaimed.

“Mabel watch out!  Something possessing the gym equipment!”

Ducking out of the way of several dodge balls Sherman and Mabel scrambled to Stan and Dipper’s side.

“Whats causing all this?” Stan asked.

Sherman looked around the room, trying to find the source.  He paused when he felt the urge to look upwards.  Seeing something he pointed it out.  “Up there.  I think that’s it.”

The blurry figure of something floated around the ceiling.  As Sherman pointed it out the figure flew down behind Mr. Gheist.

“Behind you!” They shouted to him but too late.  In the matter of a second Mr. Ghiests underwear was pulled up and over his head.

“Ah ha ha ha.” A voice laughed as the image slowly became clearer.  It looked like someone in their late teens wearing the jersey of Gravity Falls High.  “Oh man, I’ve been waiting forever for this!”

Pulling the underwear off of his head Mr. Gheist turned around and gave a look of pure horror.  “No, it can’t be… you’re dead!”  He backed away from the being.

“Oh yea, but I’m still gonna keep tormenting you!”  The ghost snidely tormented him.

“AHHH!” Mr. Gheist screamed.  “That’s it!  I QUIT!”  He ran for the doorway, nearly ripping off the hinge as he opened it.  “I’m moving to Aruba!”

Slamming the door behind him the ghost just continued to laugh as most of the objects dropped to the floor, no longer being controlled.

“What just happened?” Dipper asked.

“I… don’t know.” Mabel answered.

“Oh, I think we know…” Sherman looked at Stan who rolled his eyes.  “Come on now, you’ve seen this before.”

“Whad’ya want me to do about it?”  Sherman just scowled at Stan.  “Fine, fine.  I’ll talk to him.”

Walking up to the ghost Stan tried to tap its shoulder but couldn’t find anything solid to do so with.  Still though, the ghost turned and looked at Stan.

“Yeah, you got a problem with me old man?”

“Who do you think you are giving a wedgie to a grown man?  That’s something a twelve year old does!  You’re a disgrace to bullies everywhere, now drop and give me 20!”  Stan shouted.

Surprisingly enough the Ghost dropped to its knees and started doing pushups.  “Yes Coach!” it replied.

“Next time I catch you using such a childish method of bullying I’ll have you do 100 laps around the field house, do you understand!”  Stan stood strong against the ghost, trying to poke him in his nonexistent chest.

“Sir yes sir!”  The ghost shouted out as his form started to disapate.  A smile formed on his lips as he got weaker.  “I’m just so glad that Gravity Falls High still has a good coach!”

“Wait I’m not a…” Stan tried to explain but was too late as the ghost disappeared.  “Oh boy.”

“Wait, how did Grunkle Stan do that?” Mabel asked Sherman.

Sherman smiled and patted her head.  “Back in high school there wasn’t a bigger bully than Stanley Pines.  He’d probably have been expelled for it if it hadn’t been for Ford always being around him and backing him up.  Let’s just say, the art of bullying is something Stan takes pride in and hates to see done wrong.”

 

Heading back outside they saw a stunned Dean looking out to the parking lot.  As they approached him he raised the façade of happiness around himself.

“Well, did all of you enjoy your tour?”  He asked.

“Of course but… Well sorry about your science teacher.”  Sherman apologized.

Dean sighed, dropping his façade.  “It’s fine.  I suppose now I need a Phys Ed teacher _and_ a Physics teacher.”

 

* * *

  

“Closing his book again Ford looked right at you.  “That was an amazing story right?  I know it might be hard for you to believe that any of those were true but I assure you they were!”

‘It might be hard for me to believe?’  You think to yourself.  ‘That’s it... were done with this!’

“Of course I believe them; I was _there_ for all of them!”  You shout at Ford.  “You’re the one who wasn’t there for most of them!”

Ford looks at you stunned.  “Well yes Stanley of course you were…  I just… wanted to make sure you remembered them as I do.”

You groan out loud as you grab the door and swing it open.   You need a Pitt Cola and to get away from your brother now!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might be asking "What the heck was that? That wasn't in the episode list he gave a while ago!" Well it is a combination of two things. A: Story ideas that I either wasn't going to have room for or that wouldn't flesh out to be a full episode and...  
> B: A Gravity Fall Tradition. In the tradition of both the Bottomless Pit and Little Gift Shop of Horrors I present to you my take on it.
> 
> Basically I realized that I only had 25 episodes but had enough ideas for 28 so my balance was to do this clip show episode in the middle. It also gave me a chance to break apart the action as, much like the last two episodes the next one is going to be a two parter too.


	21. Close encounters of the weird kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the portal is nearly stabilized an old friend visits Gravity Falls looking for someone.

Excerpt: Journal 6: July 12, 2018:  Mabel’s condition suddenly turned for the worst.  None of the medicine is working at all anymore.   In a panic we’ve isolated Mabel from everyone else to try to ease her pain but I fear the worst.   I spoke with Old Man McGucket and he said he might have something that can help calm it down, a device that creates a field that blocks the condition.   I hope it works.

  

* * *

 

 

Mason squinted as he looked at the numbers on the console.  ‘We’re so close.’ He thought as the stream of calculations flooded his mind.  He twisted a knob and another set of data to crunch leapt into his head.  Just last night the three of them had managed to achieve 94% stability, today however Mason was sure they would finally hit 100% and this chapter of his life could be closed for good.

“Prepare for a big push!” Mason squawked out to his comrades.   Once again Ford and Fiddleford were standing at their respective stations working hard on finishing what had begun almost a month ago.  “Once I give the signal we’re going to sprint for the end.   Fiddleford, how are we looking?”

Fiddleford looked down at his readouts.  “93 and holding.   Energy readouts are green.   Temporal dispersion is currently at 32%.”

Mason nodded.  “Ford, how are you looking over there?”

Ford looked at his numbers carefully.   He didn’t like Mason calling for ‘A sprint to the finish’ or whatever that was supposed to mean but for now it looked like everything was within acceptable parameters.   “We’re all clear on my end.   What’s the plan?”

“Alright, we’re going to set the dispersion at 100% for thirty seconds then flood they system with tachyons.”  Mason began to input the parameters into his console.

Ford shook his head.  “That’s insane!  That will cause the portal to become self sustaining for an indeterminate amount of time!”

Mason stopped inputting his sequence and looked in Ford’s direction.  “No, it will cause the whole thing to self stabilize.  The influx of tachyons will override the graviton distortions that may occur due to the final stages of stabilization.”

“Yes, but it can also cause the rift to tear a new hole in this dimension!”

“Just trust me on this.  I know I’ve done the calculations correctly!”  Mason replied aggravated.  “Now, t-minus ten seconds.”

Ford and Fiddleford scrambled to prepare for the procedure, only managing to input the final variables just as Mason called out for the procedure to start.   A rippling whirl began to form in the open portal as energy flowed straight into the eye.  

“Steady…”  Mason held, watching the flow continue.  “Steady….”

“94%... 95%... 96%...”  Fiddleford read out.

“Once we hit 97% boost tachyon production!”  Mason told Ford.

A tense moment passed before Fiddleford finally called out what Ford had been waiting for.  Quickly hitting the power circuit the portal began to fluctuate wildly.  Sparks of energy shot out of it singing a nearby chair.   Ford watched the portal looked as if it was tearing itself apart.

“97.3… 97.4… 97.5”

“Yes!  It’s working!”

For a moment it looked like it was actually going to work.  Ford was flabbergasted at how dangerous this was but at the same time how close they were to actually finishing this process.

“97.7…  It’s slowing down!”  Fiddleford shouted out. 

Ford watched as Mason quickly began adjusting settings on his console, his obvious intent to push the process even further.  Ford could only wait as his duty was done for the moment.  That was when he saw it.  Just around the portal small tears in space time were beginning

His wonderment snapping to reason Ford realized that this for sure would tear the fabric of all space-time apart.  Deciding Mason’s gambling had gone far enough Ford ran over to the emergency shutoff, nearly getting hit by an errant energy spike in the process.

“What are you doing!” Mason shouted to Ford as both watched the portal become less stable by the second.

“You’ve gone too far.  I’m not going to let this tear reality up.”  Ford replied as he hit the button.

The energy that had once been flowing into the portal stopped.  All three could only watch as the portal became less stable as the source of its power stopped. 

“81%...  72%... Were losing it!” Fiddleford shouted from his console.

“What have you done!” Mason yelled angrily as he worked to stop what was happening.

 “21%...  9%...  It’s not stopping.”

“Dangit!” Mason shouted as he desperately tried to recover from the situation but it was too late, the portal collapsed and was gone.  The only light in the room was the gentle glow of the electric lamp they had set up in case of a power outage.

The claxons that indicated the emergency shutdown finally calmed down as Mason stood over his console.  The portal was gone, lost to the ether and there was nothing they could do about that.  A month of work had just gone up in smoke.   Everyone present knew that they would have to start over from scratch.

Mason slammed both fists down into the console, denting the top of it.  “WHY!”  He wouldn’t look up at Ford, yet the old man knew he was staring at him in his mind’s eye.

Ford composed himself.  “You took a massive risk there!  I had to stop it, the portal was about to destroy everything!”

“No, it wouldn’t.  I told you I’ve done the calculations, I’ve been doing them for years, even before we came back.  I know what would have happened and you’ve just set us back to square one!”  He finally looked up at Ford, his gaze a mixture of anger and disappointment.

“I can hardly believe that!  The amount of risks you’ve taken thus far are unacceptable!  You have no idea what kind of damage this thing can really do!”

“Oh course I do, I’ve studied everything there is to about portals!”

“Oh really?  Who would have taught you to risk everything on a whim? If your calculations had been off by even a decimal you could have torn reality a new hole. Who on earth would have taught you that!”

“YOU DID!”  Mason finally shouted at the top of his lungs.  Both older men reeled at his shout.  Mason closed his eyes to try to calm himself down.  Centering himself he spoke in a near whisper. “Or at least you would have.”

Taking a seat as the lights finally came back on Mason allowed his head to slouch.  Fiddleford and Ford looked at each other, trying to find the words to speak. 

“What do you mean I would have.”  Ford finally asked as he watched Mason pull forth a journal, the one that he had kept from him, from underneath the table.  Ford shook his head. “You’ve been keeping secrets, haven’t you?”

“There just wasn’t time to tell you.” Mason, still quiet, answered. “I would have but…”

“But nothing.  I told you that if I helped you that you wouldn’t hide anything from me anymore.  Now tell me, what did you mean by ‘I would have?’”

“Okay… no more secrets.”  He sighed.  “Do you know why we were forced to come back in time to this era?”

Ford shook his head as he and Fiddleford took their seats beside Mason.  “No, you never explained that, just that the world was ending.”

Mason laughed. “Well I could let you take a guess as to what was the cause and I bet you’d be right.”

Ford eyes narrowed. “Bill…”  He said with distain.

Mason clenched his mouth and nodded.  “Yup.  It was Bill Cipher, back from the grave.  Except this time we _weren’t_ ready for him.”

Flipping open the journal and began turning through the pages. “Mabel suggested we all contribute to the new journal.  Honestly it wasn’t a bad idea, after all it was a good way to remember…”  He trailed off.

“Remember what?”

Without a word Mason turned the journal to Ford.  The date was early 2018.  As Ford read the entry the depth of what he was reading hit him.

“We were… gone?”

Mason nodded.

“How long?”

“Five years.  It happened near the end of Spring the year after we left the falls. The call came so suddenly.”   Mason closed his eyes as he tried to remember the day.  “It was raining hard too, I remember that.  The coast guard called the house and told us they had found the Stan’o’War II adrift near the arctic circle.”

“Arctic Circle…”  Ford thought.  “That was where…”

“The last anomaly you were after was, I know.  One of the first things I did once I knew the kids were back from Gravity Falls was to set out on my own and take care of that one.”  Mason sighed.  “I’m still not sure what was different about it, it seemed fairly normal to me, but I closed it none the less.”

“I… I didn’t know you’d done that for us.”

“And you weren’t supposed to.   Honestly, I had hoped to be a little further in my preparations before I revealed myself to you but, honestly, I underestimated how much that little even caused you to become paranoid.  If you hadn’t made that machine to track anomalies then everyone would have come back and we would have secretly worked on Phase Three.”

Fiddleford stood back up and made his way over to the machine.  He began to assess the damages again, tinkering with what he could to try to salvage their work.

“What exactly is Phase Three?”

Mason flipped to another page in the journal, this one outlining the unicorn barriers.  “I was going to set up defenses at strategic locations in order to prevent Bill from going where he pleased.  For that I would need a large amount of unicorn hair to enact the barriers.  Luckily for me Wendy knew of a location and with Pacifica’s help we were able to get what we needed.”

“Unicorn’s Hair Barriers?  Wait a minute!  You’re the one who set it up around Bill’s body weren’t you!”

Mason nodded.  “Yes, I had a little bit on me from the other side and used it to set up one around his body and around this mansion, just in case.  The barrier is amazing but it only works against Bill I’ve realized, it won’t work on other types of demons.  Anyhow, once that was done, we would have gone on to Phase Four.”

“Which is?”  Ford asked as Fiddleford made his way back over to his console.

“We would reveal ourselves to you guys and begin the plan to permanently seal Bill using the monoliths.”

Ford thought for a moment.  “The stones, so there _was_ more to them!”

Mason nodded again.  “They are the real key to sealing Bill for good.  They have the power to amplify the zodiac by a factor to match Bill.”

“I see now.”  Ford began running the scenario through his head.  A real end to Bill, one where he wouldn’t have to worry that he could come back.  This was hope for him, especially in light of the news that Bill would find his way back somehow.  “Tell me, how did you come back in time?”

“To explain that you need to understand the events before and not long after Bill’s return.   You see, just before everything went down someone sent me a book that was supposedly written by you and a few of your friends.  A book on portals.”

Ford gave him a confused look.  “Mason I’ve not written any books on portals, at least not yet.  The only one that could have been vaguely considered for the subject on portals would have been…”

“The journals, I know.  That’s what I thought too but this book… it was different.”  He flipped to another page.  “I wish I still had it, I really do.  You would have gotten a kick out of it, but no, it was lost not long before we came back along with…”

“With who?”

Fiddleford stopped working, his head hung low.  “Me Ford.  When they lost me.  I can remember it like it just happened”

“What do you mean?”

“Fiddleford helped us a lot, where I had the physics knowledge, he had the engineering skills.  When we realized that only one person would be able to go back in time he invented a device to transfer his memories into his other self so that I would have a companion.”

“You mean you’re…”

“Both the Fiddleford McGucket you knew and one you didn’t.  That’s why my brains been so fried lately, conflicting memories and all.”

“But anyway, not long after Bill returned there were roughly a dozen of us.  Survivors of the aftermath of his initial attack who had fled into the tunnels.   After just a few years it was less until…”  Mason stopped, unable to continue, tears nearly welling up in his eyes.

“Take your time with it.”  Ford placed his hand reassuringly on Mason’s shoulder. 

Mason took a deep breath and wiped his eyes.  “We nearly lost everyone.  Had Fiddleford not given me the location of the time machine before he died, we wouldn’t have made it at all.”

“So, you came back?”

“We had a plan.  We stuck to it until things went wrong, thanks to you.”  Mason’s gaze returned to where minutes ago the portal had been open.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

Mason shook his head.  “No, I should have figured this would happen.  You didn’t have the sense of urgency we did.” He rubbed his chin, rough against the bit of stubble that was growing again.  “Then again, we don’t have your sense of caution.  Maybe you being here was for the best.”

Before Ford could respond Fiddleford called out.  “Guys, you better come over here and see this.”

“What is it?” Mason asked as he and Ford stood and walked over to Fiddleford’s console. 

Fiddleford could only stare at the data that was displaying on his monitors.  In truth he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  Mason’s confused glare and Ford rubbing his eyes to try confirm the sight only made it more curious.

The display said that the synchronization was at 100%.  However, it was not at a true 100% but negative 100%.  Not one of the men knew what to make of it. 

“I have a bad feeling about this.”  Mason muttered as the other two men nodded, all three looking at the portal in front of them with awe and fear.

It was at that moment that Ford’s phone rang.

 

* * *

 

“Hey Wendy!” Dipper shouted to his friend as he ran up to meet her.

“Sup Dipper!” She waved back as he arrived.  “Fancy meeting you here.  Where Mabel at?”

“Mabel’s back at the shack.” Dipper replied.  “She and Abby were playing when I left.”

“Cool, so what are you up to?”

Dipper shrugged.  “Don’t know, just didn’t want to hand around all day so I decided I’d go for a stroll and see how things went, how about you?”

Wendy produced a small list from her pocket.  “I got sent out as an errand boy to pick up a few things for mom’s place.”

“Yeah, how’s that going.  You’re not gonna freeze over are you?”

Wendy laughed.  “No way man, I’m over freezing up.  Hey wanna see something cool?”

Dipper nodded.  Wendy smirked as she held out her palm and as she concentrated the air above it began to swirl and freeze.   After a few seconds she had managed to make a snowball, which lasted all of five seconds in the heat of the day.

“Whoa!” Dipper exclaimed.

“Yea, and mom says when I train further, I’ll be able to make ice bolts or something like that.”

Dipper whistled as the two of them began to walk down the street.  “Man, that’s so cool that you found out about your mom and stuff.  Must feel weird doing it with your older self though.”

“Actually, it’s been really chill.  Dee’s been spending a bunch of time with Dad learning how to be a better hunter since she won’t get powers anymore thanks to her axe.  I think Dad’s been happier than normal with not having to hide anything anymore.”

“Well I guess that’s neat.  So, what did you need to pick up.”

Wendy handed Dipper the list and he quickly scanned it.  Mostly just normal groceries but one thing Dipper immediately noticed was a large amount of bottled water.

“It’s for practice.  Mom says the cave gets dry too quickly when we practice so we’re getting a bunch of water to use instead.”

Handing the list back the two of them approached the store.   Walking in the two nearly ran straight into a person exiting.

“Oh, crickey.  Didn’t see you there.  My apologies.”  The man apologized.

“Oh no worries man…”  Dipper apologized back but stopped short as the two stared at each other.  “You!”

“You!” The man shouted in unison with Dipper.  “Well call me a koala’s uncle!  You’re that kid from last time!  And you’re the miss who helped me out too!”

“You’re the guy who was hunting the guardian of the forest… err what was your name again?”

The man laughed.  “Steve Logan’s the name.  Cryptid hunting is my specialty!” Steve replied with his catchphrase.

A quick panicked look shot across Wendy’s face as she grabbed Dipper and ran a few feet away with him.

“DIPPER!” She whispered loudly.  “This is bad.”

“Why?” Dipper whispered in reply.

“Because remember how we thought that bug was the guardian?”

Dipper Nodded.

“It wasn’t.  My Mom’s actually the guardian.”

Dipper’s eyes widened.  “Oh man, this _is_ bad.  If he follows you to the…”

“What are you all talking about over here.” Logan whispered to the two.

Both teens jumped back in surprise, neither could come up with a complete sentence in reply.  Steve could only laugh at their scrambling.

“Calm down you two, I’m not after the guardian again.  That hunt is long over as you’ve said.”

Both teens calmed down and composed themselves as Dipper posed the burning question.  “So, what _are_ you doing back in Gravity Falls?”

Steve became still for a moment as he stared at the two.  Dipper wasn’t sure if that question had struck a nerve in him or what but the stillness was unnerving.  Finally, Steve looked around as if searching for something and sighed.

“Do you remember how I said I had a partner once.”  He turned back to look at Dipper and Wendy.  “Well the thing is I came upon a bit of info that he _might_ be in Gravity Falls.”

“Might?” Wendy asked.

“Well I don’t really know, he isn’t one to announce his presence.  Or he does but then hides in the background.  He’s just that kind of guy.”

“Can you describe him?”

“Hmm.” Steve thought.  “Well he’s tall, with a big nose.  He’s a snappy dresser.”

“Anything… more defining?  I mean you could have described Stan.”  Wendy noted.

“Really?  You think it could be Grunkle Stan?”  Dipper asked.

Wendy shrugged.  “Well he does have a big nose and when he’s wearing his costume, he doesn’t look too bad in it.”

That was a thought Dipper didn’t want in his head.

“Hmm…”  Dipper shrugged it off.  “Yea, I don’t think its Grunkle Stan.”

“Sorry, I can’t really tell you much more than that.”  Steve apologized.

“How about a name?” Dipper asked.

Steve shook his head.  “He must have changed it when we broke apart.  I never got the new one.”

Dipper sighed.  “There isn’t much we can do to help with just that.  I mean there gotta be several hundred people who could match that and honestly I don’t know a lot of them since I only spend the summers here.”

“Dude, I live here and I still don’t know everyone.”  Wendy added.  “It’s not like we have a big meet and greet every week.”

“Right.  Sorry about that.  I guess… I guess I’ll just wander around the town a little longer.”  Steve sulked away, walking to the side walk.  “If you happen to see someone who knows me maybe…”

He stopped.  Dipper and Wendy watched as he started to franticly look around like he must have heard something.  Dipper focused his hearing to try to pick up what Steve heard but realized he could only hear the laughter of a couple who had just walked out of the store to their car.

“That’s it!”  Steve exclaimed.

“What is?” Dipper asked.

“I know something about him that might set him apart!”  Steve flipped around and excitedly ran back up to the two.  “He has a condition!”

“Condition?  You mean like a skin growth?  I’ve heard Toby has a bunch of rashes, maybe it’s him.” Wendy asked, eyebrow cocked.

“No no, not that.”

“Is it something like a mental condition?  Tad’s got this condition that he’s the only normal guy in town.  Also he keeps sneaking up on Mabel and me when we’re not looking.”

“Oh yea, he did that to me the other day.  It’s weird but cool at the same time.  He just wanted to…”

Steve threw out his hands to grab the teens’ attention again.  “No, it’s not like.  He has a special condition he’s had since birth.”

Dipper and Wendy looked back at him, waiting.  “So, what condition?” Dipper finally asked.

Steve took a deep breath.  “Since birth he has had an inability to feel humor.”  He groaned as he ruffled his hair.  “Ah, I know it’s stupid.  How would you tell that someone can’t feel humor?  It makes no sense, I know.”

Looking up Steve realized Dipper’s jaw had dropped. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“What?  Do you know him?”

“Do I!  Thanks to him we almost got sent to child services last year!  That guy nearly cost us Grunkle Ford!”

“Whoa dude, you’re not talking about who I think you’re talking about?” Wendy asked Dipper, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

“Yeah!  It’s Agent Powers!”  Dipper’s eyes darted around as he tried to remember where he was staying.  “He’s here in town at the… right at the Log Cabin Cabins!”

“Log Cabin Cabins, yes we know we said Cabin twice!”  Wendy sang out the jingle.  The other two gave her a look.  She shrugged back. “What, it’s just so catchy.” 

Dipper shook the jingle off.  “Come on I’ll show you where he’s staying!”

Dipper grabbed Steve’s hand and began to pull him in the direction of the cabins.  Stopping after a few feet he looked back at Wendy.

“Coming?” 

She shook her head and held up the list.  “Sorry dude, I’ve still gotta go shopping.  You’ve got this with just the two of you.”

Dipper smiled. “See you later Wendy!”

Wendy smiled back.  “See ya dudes!”  She shot a finger gun at him which actually produced a small ice bullet that fired about three feet before falling and melting.  Shocked she quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed.  Seeing that no one other than Dipper had she quickly turned and ran in the store.

 

The cabins themselves were quaint.  Built only a few years ago they offered a way for travelers staying in the town to live a bit of a lumberjack’s life.  Granted, there weren’t many who would come to Gravity Falls without reason so most of the time they were empty.

As Dipper entered the main office with Steve a familiar face stood behind the counter. 

“Well hey dude, long time no see.”  Lee called out from behind the counter. 

Dipper blinked a moment just to make sure it was actually him.  “Lee? Wow, so this is where you go during the day.”

“Yea, my parents made me get a job this summer and this one was the only one that nobody wanted… I mean the one I was qualified for.”

“Right, um, so I have a favor.”

“Oh, does it have to do with Thompson?  I’ve been itching to get him to do something stupid lately.”

Dipper shook his head. “No, actually it has to do with the cabins.  I need to know which one Agent Powers is in.”

“Whoa man, I may be over qualified for this job but giving out customer information is strictly forbidden.”

“I’ll get Thompson to run around the lake naked if you do it.”

“Oh, I’m totally in.  He’s in cabin 4 by the woods.  Take the road and it’s the last one on the right.”

“Are you sure you’re not going to get in trouble for do thing for us?” Steve asked.

Lee laughed. “No way man!  I was even considering quitting and finding a better job anyway so what are they going to do.”

Dipper held at the door and thought about it.  “Umm, couldn’t your parents ground you and stop you from watching Thompsons streak?”

Steve and Dipper watched as Lee first laughed at the thought, then as the reality of it settled in his face became pale with despair.  The two took that as a que to quickly leave before they made things worse for Lee.

 

“Cabin 4” Dipper read out the signage on the front of the log cabin.  Less a cabin made of logs and more a cabin made of a log, a single _large_ log.  “Well this is it.  Are you ready to see him again?”

Steve seemed apprehensive.  “I just don’t know.  It’s been years, will he even remember me?  I’m sure he’s forgotten.”

“No way, you’re honestly one of the least forgettable people around.  And I’m not just saying that, we have a memory gun that could prove it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, actually last summer my sister shot me with it once and I forgot a whole week happened.”

“Why?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Oh.”  Steve looked at the door, inching slowly down the walk path.  “Well what if he isn’t into monsters anymore, or weird things.”

“Trust me, he still is.”  Dipper replied, annoyance palpable.  “He still wants to find the mysteries of Gravity Falls.

“But what if he…”

“Look,” Dipper cut him off, “If you don’t want to do it don’t but I don’t exactly have all day and neither does he.”  Dipper pointed to the doorway.

Steve realized the teen was right.  If he was going to do it now was the time.  Steeling himself he turned to the doorway and, holding back for a few more seconds one last time, hit the button.

Dipper stood beside him, waiting for the answer.  He could hear the loud footsteps just beyond the doorway.  In a small way it reminded him of the day he and Mabel found out about Grandpa Sherman moving to town.  Finally, the door swung open and the occupant stood before them.

Yet it wasn’t Agent Powers.  Instead they were greeted by a slimmer man wearing a suit coat and pants.  He looked at the two with some bit of trepidation.  Dipper could give a guess why simply because he knew this man.  He knew this man as Agent Trigger, Agent Power’s old partner with the government.

“May I help you?”  The man asked.

Steve looked devastated.  This wasn’t the man he had been looking for at all.  Sulking he replied.  “No, I think we’ve gone to the wrong place. Sorry.”  He turned and began to slink back to the street.

“Hmph, very well, now if you will excuse me…”  Trigger tried to close the door but Dipper was faster.  Sticking his foot in the door, which with the pain in his foot that caused may not have been the best idea, he called out.

“Agent Powers, you in there?”  Dipper shouted in.

He heard more shuffling as another person made their way to the door.

“Dipper, what are you doing here?”  The man asked as he reached the doorway.  Trigger allowed the door to come open again as the new person, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts stood looking down at the young teen.

Steve stopped as he heard the voice.  Slowly he turned around almost expecting it to be someone else.  Yet when his eyes feel upon the man they widened and began to tear up.

“Max?”  He asked, hoping to get confirmation.

Powers looked up at the man who had called the name and his eyes, too, widened at the sight. 

“Steve?  Is that really you?”

“Wait, does this civilian know your real name?  You know the agency policy on prior encounters.  I have too report this to…”

“Oh shut up Trigger.  This is why nobody likes you at the office.”

“I, err…”

“Plus I’ve already given the Director my answer.  I’m done with all of that.  From now on I’m on my own again.”

Trigger grunted.  “Fine.  But don’t come crawling back when you get into trouble.”  He made his way down the walkway to the SUV parked across the street, slamming the door shut as he did and driving away in a huff.

“What was all that about?” Dipper asked.

“I gave my notice to the agency.  They sent Trigger to try to convince me to stay but it’s no use.  I’m out Dipper, just your ordinary average citizen now.  Nor more Agent in my name, just Powers.”

“Max.”  Steve repeated.

“Oh yes, Max too.  I suppose I’ll be Max Powers.  I like that name for some reason.”

“Max.” Steve repeated again.

This time it shook Powers out of his conversation and made him realize what was going on.

“Steve!” he walked up and offered out his hand.

Steve took it and they shook, for a long time. “It’s… It’s been a while.”  Steve finally broke the grasp.

“Indeed it has.  I see you’re doing well.” He looked Steve up and down. “So tell me, what brings you to Gravity Falls.”

“Well… you did.”

“Me?”

“Yes.  I heard you were here from someone and… and…”

Power put his hand on Steve’s shoulder whilst Steve was near tears.

“It’s alright.  Take your time.”

“I thought you died back then.”

Powers sighed.  “You know I would have told you if I could.  The agency forces it’s agents to fake their deaths in order maintain secrecy.”

“But you could have told me at least…”  Steve was now in tears.

“Well… I suppose I can tell you now.  Come on inside and I’ll let you in on everything that I can.”  He looked at Dipper. “Coming?  I’ve got fresh government secrets to share.”

Dipper shook his head.  “Nah, maybe some other time.  It sounds like the two you of have some catching up to do.”

“Very well.  Good day then.”  He nodded as he and Steve walked to the door.

“Man, weird that we keep having people for the past meet up like this.  It’s almost like…”

At that moment Dipper’s phone rang.

 

* * *

 

“Go long Abby!” Mabel shouted as she threw the ball as high as she could.   Abby ran in a dead sprint to try to catch it, missing it by barely a foot as the ball landed in the bushes. 

“Nice try.  Good hustle Abby.” Grunkle Stan shouted to the girl as she dug the ball out of the bush and held it up high for all to see.

Grunkle Stan had joined his niece and their time displaced friend out in the back yard for a friendly game of catch shortly after Dipper had left for town for the day.  At least that was what it started as.  Since this morning the throws and the catches had become more intense and more elaborate as Mabel and Stan competitive sides started to come out.

“Here you go Grunkle Stan!” Abby shouted as she took a big throw and tossed the ball in the air.

Stan smiled as he reached up to catch the ball only to have Mabel jump in front of him and knock it to the ground just before he would have palmed it.

“Hey! No fair.” Stan put his hand on his hips and looked at the interference.

“What are you going to do about it!”  Mabel threw her arms up in a fake shrug as she ran backwards to grab the ball.

Stan watched as she tossed the ball back to Abby who took a diving catch to grab it.  His bones starting to creak from continuous play Stan decided this would be a good time to duck out and take a break.

“You two keep going, I’m just going to take a bit of a rest on the couch.”  He informed them as he made his way to the porch.

Greeting him there was a smiling friendly face of Melody who had just come out in the last few minutes to watch them, at to get away from the store for a while.

“You’re getting along nicely.”  She mused as he took a seat and grabbed for his Pitt Cola that he had stashed nearby earlier.

Popping the top he laughed lightly.  “Well, I guess I am.”  Taking a quick sip he quenched his immediate thirst.

“You know, watching you guys out there, it looks a lot like you’re their father.”

_Pfft_.  Stan spit out some of the cola.  “What?” He asked confused.

“Aw, don’t give me that.  You’re doing great.  Mabel is happy as can be and Abby’s having the time of her life.  The three of you are like one big happy family.”

“Yeah but a dad?”

“Would you have preferred I called you grandpa?” She cocked her eyebrow as she responded sassily. 

“Err, well, no.   Just, I’ve never thought of that.”

Stan watched as the ball bounced up on the porch.  With minimal effort he kicked it back down to the girls.

“Really?  You’ve never thought about having kids of your own?”

Stan sighed.  “Melody, I’ve spent my whole adult life trying to make up for one mistake I’ve had in the past.  I just didn’t have time for kids.”

Melody patted her belly.  “Well that lifetime for one mistake can go both ways.  Not that I’m complaining.”

“Oh, I uh, didn’t mean it that way.  You know, the portal and all…”

“I know Stan, Soos has told me a thousand times.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Nothing _you_ need to apologize to me for.  You’re not the one telling me all the time.”

Stan chuckled.  Soos was always an interesting one.  “You know what.  If I could do it all over, could do it differently, what I would have wanted was a kid like Soos.”

“Really?  You would want Soos as your son?”

“Son?  I didn’t say that.”  Stan looked around quickly to see if Soos happened to be around.  “Look, don’t say it to him but in a lot of ways I actually consider him like my son.  I mean I’ve know the kid for almost twenty years and he’s worked for me just as long so why not.”

“Really.  Well I guess you never know a person.”

“What do you mean.”

“I mean the fact that Soos considers you his dad, well basically his dad.  He still holds out hope for his real dad to show up but Abuelita let me in on the secret.”

“What secret.”

“Oh that… never mind.”

“What?  Tell me!”

“Look.  She told me the real story about Soos’ dad.  I can’t tell you but it’s not what he thinks it is.”

“Fine, but I’m grilling her on it later.”

“Oh suit yourself, her lips are sealed.  She will take that secret to the grave.”

“How did you learn about it then?”

“Women… know things.  I knew she was hiding it and she wanted me to know since I was having Soos’ child.”

“Fair trade I guess, she gives you a secret…”

“And she gets a great-grandchild.  Yeah, she thought the same thing too.  She’s shrewder than you’d think.”

Melody laughed but quickly stopped as she grabbed her stomach. 

“It kicked!” She smiled.

“I wanna feel!” Mabel shouted as she ran up to the porch. 

Melody moved her hand out of the way as Mabel and then Abby placed their hands on her belly.  They could feel small movements just below her skin.

“Aww, it’s so cute.” Abby exclaimed. 

“I know.  In just a few more weeks were going to have a big party to pre-welcome the baby into the world!” Mabel explained.

“You mean the baby shower.” Melody noted.  “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to be big per se.”

“What? Why not?” Mabel pouted.

“Sorry Mabel, I’ve seen your parties.  I want something small and simple.”

“Okay…” Mabel backed off.

“Anyway,” Stan began, “about the whole kids situation.”

“What about it?’

“So are the two of you going to, you know, tie the knot first?”

Just as Melody opened her mouth to answer the entire world around them felt light, like there was no gravity for a moment.  Everyone started to float for a second before landing back on the ground.

“What was that?” Melody asked.  Abby shook her head and Mabel shrugged.  

Stan on the other hand sat there with some level of shock on his face.

“That can’t be.”

Stan stood up in and in a flurry of motions threw open the door and ran through the house.  Mabel was only barely able to keep up with him as he bolted through the family room.

“Grunkle Stan, what is it?” She asked as Stan stood before the vending machine. 

“I hope I’m wrong.”  He replied as he quickly entered the code to open the doorway. 

Bolting down the steps and quickly calling the elevator he hit the button for the lowest floor.  As the doors opened, he rushed out with Mabel in tow to see a sight he feared.  In the portal room in front of him the white swirling mass of an open portal lie before him.  Yet how was this possible?  There was no machine in that room capable of creating it, in fact there was nothing in that room at all since Soos cleared it out last week.

“Grunkle Stan is that…”

“Yes sweetie.  That’s a portal.  But how?”

Stan knew there was only one person he knew that would have an answer.  He had to call his brother.  At the same time someone needed to watch the portal and see what it did.  Ford would want to know these things if he was to shut it down.  Realizing he had but one option he looked down at Mabel.

“Mabel, listen very carefully.”  His tone as serious as can be. “I need you to run upstairs and call Ford.  Call him as quick as you can.  Tell him a portal opened in the old room and he needs to get here now.  Can you do that?”

Mabel nodded, she knew how serious this was and Stan’s tone only reinforced that.

“Now go!”  Stan pointed to the elevator.  “I’ll stay here and watch what it does.”

Stan watched Mabel bolt for the elevator.  No sooner did it shut did the feeling of dread leave Stan.

“Good.  No nobody else has to get hurt.”  He said.   Yet he didn’t know why he said it.  His gaze returned to the open portal as his eyes narrowed on the precipice of reality tearing a hole through subspace.

Stan didn’t know why he was doing what he was doing but before he realized anything was wrong he had made his way into the portal room and was now standing just a foot away from the ‘do not cross’ line.

Mabel found Abby in the family room as she grabbed the phone in and held it up to her ear.  “Aww crud… What’s Grunkle Ford’s number?” She asked Abby who only shrugged as a response.

Mabel didn’t know what to do.  She needed to call Grunkle Ford but she had no way of knowing his number.  She knew someone must, then it dawned on her.

“Dipper!  I bet he knows.”  Quickly dialing Dipper’s number, she heard him pick up.

“Hello?”

“Dipper!”

“Mabel?  Why are you calling from the house phone?”

“No time, it’s an emergency!   What’s Grunkle Ford’s number!”

“Mabel, you’ve got it saved in your cell phone.”  She heard him groan on the other end.  “You do have your cell phone, right?”

Pulling out her phone from her pocket she saw Abby giggle a little as she realized what happened.

“Right.  Thanks Dipper!”

“Wait, what is it about an emergen…”  He was cut off as she hung up.

Quickly going through her contacts she saw Ford’s number and hit the dial button.  Ringing a few times, she heard the other end pick up.

“Grunkle Ford?”  Mabel asked.

“Mabel, is that you?”  Ford replied.  “It’s me, what’s the matter, you sound flustered.”

“Grunkle Ford, Grunkle Stan told me to call you.  He said it is an emergency.”

Ford sighed.  “If this is about the beef jerky again, I don’t have time.  We have a bit of an issue on our end…”

“No, its not about food!  Grunkle Ford there is a portal in the old portal room.  You know, the same you we first met you in!”

Silence on the other end until Mabel was greeted with a shocked, “What?”

“It’s true, I saw it myself.”

Mabel could hear some muffled speech on the other side before a new voice came over the line.

“Mabel, It’s Mason.  Can you describe the portal to me?”

“Well you remember when I spilled all those paints down the toilet?  It’s a lot like that”

“Mabel that was so long ago, can you be more specific?”

“Whaaat? It was only last year.  How can you forget?”

“That would be thirteen years ago for me.” Mason sighed.  “Just tell me how it was acting.”

“Oh! When it flushed it was running backwards, like they do in Australia!”

“Focus Mabel, I need to know about the portal!”

“I was talking about the portal.  It’s spinning backwards!”

She could hear more muffled talking before Mason came back on the line.

“This sounds like a rogue portal.  Whatever you do stay away from it and sit tight.  We’ll be right there.”

“Okay but Grunkle Stan is already…”  She heard the phone cut out.  She realized they must have hung up on her already.

 

It didn’t take but five minutes of frantic driving for Ford and Mason to arrive at the shack.  The two had left Fiddleford at the mansion so someone could monitor to the situation in case something changed but it wasn’t looking good.  In honestly Mason never really had an idea on how to stop a rogue portal, his calculations stated they were such a minute chance in reality.  Yet here they were about to encounter one themselves.

Abby greeted them at the door and Mason patted her on the head as she pointed out that Mabel was guarding the entrance to the basement.  As quickly as they came the two jumped in the elevator and were off to the basement.

“How do we stop this Mason?” Ford asked as the elevator slowly made its way down.

“I… I wish I knew.  I’ve never had a chance to run the simulations on how to deal with a rogue portal before.  It was just a minute chance and all.”

Ford hit the button for the second floor.  “Maybe if we seal the rift.  My adhesive gun could do the trick.”

Mason waited as the elevator opened and Ford stepped out.  He watched from the doorway as Ford dug through several piles of gadgets before producing the one that he searched for.  The rather large gun like apparatus Mason knew from his time just before leaving Gravity Falls, it was the adhesive gun.  Made from the adhesive of the alien ship this might actually do the trick.

“Ready?” Mason asked as Ford stepped back

Ford nodded as he hit the button.  Even through the screeching of the gears the two could hear their hearts beat.  Whatever awaited them down there was new territory and they would have to face it together.

Both men lurched forward as the elevator came to a stop.  Slowly the doors rolled open to reveal the entry lab to the portal room.  Much of the machines illuminated by a soft blueish green glow from the next room, the window just allowing enough light through of the men to see.

Stepping out Ford’s eyes passed over much of the machinery that would have been used to create a portal so long ago but was now dismantled.  He hoped one of the panels was lit and that he could just switch it off and all this would be over.  No such luck.

Mason stopped at the window, his gaze fixated on the swirling mass of energy in the other room.

“Well I’ve got to hand it to her.  She was right about how it looked.” He affirmed his eyes adjusted to the light.  It was then he noticed a figure standing just below the portal, right near the event horizon.  “Who is…”  His eyes adjust further.  “Grunkle Stan?”

Ford looked up from the last of the consoles and tried to see what Mason was seeing.  His eyes, older, were not as quick to adjust so as he stood Mason walked briskly to the door and threw it open.

“Grunkle Stan get back!”

Ford’s eyes finally adjusted and he could see his brother standing there, staring at the portal like a moth watching a flame.  Ford spared no time in pushing past Mason and into the room.

“Stanley!  Get over here!” He commanded his brother who seemed to make no move.  Ford already half way across the room, and could cover the distance if needed, but his instincts told him something wasn’t right.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?  This thing tore us apart before now its…”  Stan murmured as his eyes never broke contact with the portal. 

Ford could see he was literal centimeters from the ‘do not cross’ line.  Ford’s eyes widened as his mind came to the conclusion of what could happen if he took another step forward.  He would end up like Fiddleford and this time there was no cord to drag him back with, or worse he could end up Bill’s Dimension.  

“Stanley listen to me!  You have to step back from there!”

“Ford?” Stan replied, his trance broken. 

As Stan turned around to see his brother the smallest portion of his foot crossed the line and in an instant his body began to rise.  Ford sprang into action, running forward to try to catch his brother but it was too late to simply grab on.  Using the only thing he had to extend his reach Ford reached out with the adhesive gun.

“Grab on!”  He shouted.

As Stan grabbed the other end of the gun Ford felt a tug from behind.  He didn’t even need to turn to know what it was.

“I’ve got you old man!” Mason called out from behind him.

“Alright, I’m going to pull you back in, just hold on!”  Ford called out to Stan who nodded and gripped the barrel with his other hand.

Mason and Ford backed up, inch by inch, in order to get him to solid ground.  He was nearly there when Ford noticed Stan was slipping.   Stan knew exactly why, too.  He was still sweaty from playing catch for hours and he was losing his grip.  One arm slipped off and then the other.  Ford dropped the gun and jumped for his brother… but missed.

For the second time in his life Stanley Pines watched as his brother disappeared through a portal, yet this time it was him making the trip.

 

 

* * *

 

Excerpt: Journal 6: July 13, 2018:  Before we could test the device on her Mabel shouted that he was coming and disappeared.  We looked for her for a while but couldn’t find her.  Then, weirdly enough she just showed back up again.  Oddest thing is she doesn’t remember leaving. 

Anyway, got a call from Grandpa Sherman.  He says he’s coming up to see us tomorrow.  Weird thing is he didn’t tell us he was coming.  It’s not like him but he’s an adult so I guess he gets to do things spontaneous sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the second reason I did Ford's Tales previously. I wanted to see if working three semi interconnected stories was possible. I think it worked a little better here than before since there was connection (Abet little) between them.
> 
> Only five more episodes to go.


	22. Lost Souls

Journal Excerpt: July 14, 2018:  Mabel’s been acting crazy today.  She’s bouncing all over the place yelling that he’s coming.   I can’t tell if she’s talking about Grandpa Sherman or someone else.  Candy took her to town earlier to try to calm her down but I just can’t help but to be worried.  I think I’m going to go after her.

 

* * *

  

Both men stood still, stunned at what had just happened. Stan was gone, just, gone.  Neither man could find the words for what they had just witnessed.  Stanley Pines had just been pulled into a rogue portal and was now lost to them.

“This… This cant be happening.”  Ford muttered, finally finding something to say.  “No, not again.” He tried to reach out to where Stan had stood just moments before.

Ford’s words broke Mason from his stupor.  His mind immediately began recalculating the events, starting with their portal mishap, in head to make some sense of all of this.  It didn’t take long before his mind came to a solid conclusion and the realization hit him.  He fell to his feet and stared into the palms of his hands before him.

“This is all my fault.” He bemoaned himself.  “This happened because of me.  My risks, my chances, all of it is due to me.”

Ford turned to see the man, crippled by his own failures before him.  Ford couldn’t help but to feel empathy as he once stood in those same shoes himself.  The feeling of loss was something he had already gone through.

“I… Yes, it is your fault.”  Ford confirmed bluntly.  “You were sloppy, you threw caution to the wind and risked everything for nothing.”  He paused to let that sink in.  “But all might not be lost just yet.  Let me ask you now, Mason, what do you intend to do about this?”

Mason closed his eyes and clasped his hands.  Ford was being harsh, especially considering his stopping the portal may have contributed to this, yet he was being fair in his tone to chide Mason over his failures.  He knew this wasn’t Ford blaming him, it was Ford pushing him.  Gaining a new resolve Mason stood and tightened his grip.

“Alright, call everyone back.  We’ll meet up at the manor and figure this out.”Ford silently nodded and turned to the exit.  Mason took a few steps in the direction before turning back and squinting at the place his great uncle once stood.  “Why did he get so close?” He whispered to himself.  “What was he thinking?”

Deciding he wasn’t going to get any answers here he turned on heel and ran to catch up with Ford.

Gideon and Pacifica were the first arrive back to meet Mason, Ford, and Fiddleford in the manor’s portal room.  Mason could see that both were covered in sweat and forestry as the two made their way in.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Pacifica asked angrily.  “We’d almost finished, now we’ve got to go back out and get covered in this stuff again.” She pulled off a leaf that was sticking to her shirt.  “Eww… Nature.  I forgot how much I hated it.”

“Now now Pacifica.” Gideon tried to calm her down as he too was pulling parts of branches from his vest.  “I’m sure Mason wouldn’t have called us if it weren’t important.”

“It better be!  I need a shower and stat!” 

Mason looked to the two, his eyes telling a story they could already read.  The two backed down from Pacifica’s arguments and shifted uncomfortably.

“Is it the portal?  Did it collapse?” Gideon asked as he looked behind Mason at Fiddleford still working on fixing the portal.”

Mason shook his head then paused.  “Well not really.  I think we can recover from that in any case.  No, its… Grunkle Stan.”

“What happened to Stanley?” Sherman said as he arrived with Dipper and Mabel in tow.  “Is he all right?  I felt… err I’m worried about him.”

Mason let out a deep breath.  “Grunkle Stan is… gone…”  He paused as everyone gasped.  “Not dead, _I think_ , but he’s missing through an errant portal that was created due to our experiment.”

“You mean Grunkle Stan fell through that portal?”  Mabel asked, shocked.  “But why? He told me he’d be careful!”

Mason shook his head again.  “I’m not sure.  He was…”

“He was acting weird.”  Ford interrupted.  “Kids, did either of you notice him saying something or doing something unusual today?”

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other.  “No,” Dipper replied as he turned back to Ford, “but its Grunkle Stan so… unusual is just him being old I guess.”

“Yea, he was playing with Abby and me all day.  Actually, I guess that is kinda weird if you think about it, he was really into it.”

“Mabel, that’s not…” Dipper realized where this was going.

“And he was throwing the ball kinda hard like he actually wanted me to miss one.”

“Mabel…”

“But I would never miss and Grunkle Stan wouldn’t either I guess…”

“MABEL.”

“What?”

“Not important!”

“Oh, sorry.”

The moment of anguish was finally broken with gentle laughter at Mabel’s antic.  Once everyone was calmed down though Mason returned everyone to the task at hand.

“Alright.  Here’s the deal.  If this portal was in our dimension it would have dumped Stan somewhere here in Gravity Falls.  I want everyone to spread out and see if they can find Stan while Ford, Fiddleford, and I use our portal to search the multiverse.  We may not be able to get it working fully but it should still function as a normal portal, thus the search function should still work.”

Everyone nodded.

“Finally, if you see her someone please tell Wendy to contact me as soon as she can, she may have another way for us to find Stan.”

“I can go get her.”  Dipper volunteered, then paused with his hand up.  “You mean Dee, right?”

“Dee?  Oh right, her nickname.  Yes, please tell Dee to contact me.”

Dipper nodded. “Gotcha!” He fired a finger gun at his older self and winked.

“Alright everyone, let’s move out!”

“Operation FIND GRUNKLE STAN is a go!” Mabel cheered as she led everyone out the door. 

Sherman stood back a moment as everyone exited.  “What is it?” Mason asked him.

Sherman flipped around to look at his older grandson.  “I… don’t know.  I just have this weird feeling right now that somethings wrong.”

“What is, what’s wrong?”

“I… just can’t put my finger on it but I feel like this was supposed to happen.  Like losing Stan was a foregone conclusion.”

Mason stopped as he realized what he meant.  Taking a quick glance at Ford he turned back.  “No, we averted the problem and we’ll do it again.   I don’t care how much time it takes, I will save him.”

Sherman nodded, his worries abated.  “Right.  I know you will, you’re my little dipper after all.” He smirked.  “Or should I say big Dipper.”

Mason smiled as he gently turned the old man pushed him out the door.  “Yeah, yeah.  I go by Mason now, you know that.  Now get going, we need to start looking as soon as possible.”

After Sherman shut the door Mason’s smile faded.  Mason knew there was no time for pleasantries if Sherman’s hunch was right.  They would have to act fast if they were to save the older man.

“Mason, were ready to begin.” Fiddleford called out.

Mason turned and nodded.  He walked up to his console and took his position.  Flipping switches the three of them activated the portal machine again.  This time, however, there was no portal created, just flashes of light around the aperture.

They had set the portal into a mode to search for Stan, using his biological, temporal, and dimensional signature they would be able to find which dimension Stan was in.  The symbols flashed in quick succession as the three men looked on.  

One advantage of having 40 years of updated tech was that their portal was so much faster.  It only took an hour for the scan to complete.  Fiddleford looked onto his terminal in disbelief.  The silence was deafening as Mason couldn’t help but to stare at Fiddleford, waiting for his update.

“He’s…”  Fiddleford began.  The other two men leaned in, waiting.  “Nowhere!”

“What?” Ford exclaimed.  “How can he be nowhere?  Even if he were… dead… the portal should still pick him up.”

“I’ve checked the numbers three times, it adds up.  Stanley Pines no longer exists in any realm of the multiverse.  Nowhere, and no when.”

“Surely you’ve read something wrong.  That can’t be the way it is.  Let me look.” Ford called out as he made his way over to Fiddleford’s terminal.

Mason held himself back, his mind racing.  Nowhere and Nowhen.  It didn’t make sense yet it did at the same time.  An errant portal, an experiment gone wrong.  He could only stare at the portal’s gate as the data processed in his head.

“No…  He’s… gone…”  Ford finally gave in to the reality that presented itself.  Ford’s brother was now nonexistant and Ford was trying to come to terms with that.  “What do I tell the kids?”

Mason squinted at the portal.  An image flashed in his mind.  Nowhere.  Nowhen.

“Mason.”  Ford called out.

Nowhere. Nowhen.

“Mason!” Ford called out, louder.

Nowhere.  Nowhen.  Nothing…

“I know where he is.” Mason calmly came to the conclusion.

“What did you say?”  Ford asked him.

“He’s nowhere, he’s nowhen, he’s nothing.  He doesn’t exist.  I know where he is!”

“Where?” Fiddleford asked.

“Nowhere!” Mason smiled.

“I, I don’t get it.” Fiddleford looked to Ford for answers but Ford could only shrug.

“It’s too hard to explain.  I know how we can get him back… but it won’t be easy.”

“Whatever it takes we’ll do it.” Ford replied.  Fiddleford nodded in agreement.

“Okay.”  Mason took a deep breath.  “Listen closely.”

 

* * *

  

Stan groaned as the pain of the impact flooded his body.  His old bones weren’t meant to hit the ground hard like that anymore, not like the old days at least.  He gently opened his eyes to see the blurry landscape surrounding him.

“Glasses…”  He reached out around him, looking for the accessory that would fix his cataract impaired sight.  Reaching around on the gravel he finally came up on a smooth surface that he quickly identified as his lenses. 

Placing the spectacles on his head he could see again, for what it was worth.  It wasn’t like there was much to see.  The world around him was barren.  No sign of life on this grey rocky outcropping that he must have landed in.   The landscape would be featureless except for an occasion rock formation here and there.  Stan squinted as he looked at them.  They were all different, at least the ones he could see, but none the less they were all outcroppings in the shape of arches.

Stan brought himself to his feet and approached the nearest one.  He could see it was old.  He wasn’t sure how old but, well, he wouldn’t put it beyond being older than him.  He couldn’t quite tell if it was man made or not, might have even been a mixture of such.  Running his hand down the side he could feel etchings in it, symbols, yet nothing he’d ever seen before.

“Looks like… a star and a moon.  Weird.”  He muttered.   Looking around he affirmed that all he could see were more arches.  “Well at least I can breathe I guess.”  He comforted himself.  “Not like that time we jumped into space through one of those rifts we closed.”

Deciding that there was nothing to gain by staying where he was Stan began to wander.  He hoped that maybe, just maybe, there would be signs of life around the next bend.  Maybe one of these arches would have a map or something attached to it so he could find his way.

He wasn’t sure how long he walked.  Might have been hours, might have been days, but Stan walked.  The sky was night, filled with stars that were ever moving, never staying the same and never becoming something he could recognize from his world.

Finally tiring out from his walk Stan leaned against one of the archways and rested. 

“Where in the heck am I?” He asked himself out loud.  He chuckled.  He knew the effort was silly.  It wasn’t like the answer would just call itself out.

“You’re nowhere.” He heard someone say.

Flipping around he saw no one.  “Hello?” Stan called out, desperate to hear the voice again.

“Hello.” The voice called out again.  “Up here silly.” The voice informed him as Stan looked around again.  Looking up he was greeted with the sight of a man wearing a vest and bowler hat squatting over him from atop the archway.  “How do you do?” The man greeted him with the tip of his hat.

Stan stood back as the man jumped down, neatly landing and kicking up some dust.  As he wiped the residue from his pants legs the man offered out his hand. Stan stared in disbelief.  He hadn’t seen the man when he walked up to this archway.

“No?” The man took his hand back.  “No matter.”  The man turned as if to start walking away.

“Wait!” Stan called out. 

“Yes?” The man replied, spinning around to see him again.

“What do you mean I’m nowhere.”

The man chuckled. “Well I suppose that’s not quite right.  You are somewhere, and not on a farm in Kansas.”  The man paused and held his chin.  “Hmm.  I suppose it would be easier to say you are in the in-between.  This is the realm in-between dimensions that exists between the exits of a portal that is opened. A place where the things that have no exit go to when the portal closes.”

“The inbe-whatsit?  English please.”

“You’re in the place where things that have no place to go, well, go.”

“So how do I get back?”  Stan asked, frustrated.

“Well that would be the conundrum wouldn’t it?”  The man ran his hand down the archway.  “If you have no place to go where would you go?”

Stan shook his head, anger starting to well up in him. “Can you please make sense?  I just want to get back.”

“That is both an easy thing to do and hard to do all at the same time, getting back that is.  In order to get back all one needs to do is go through their portal… yet which is yours I do not know.”

“How do I find out?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure.  Maybe look around.  If you have a place to go, you’ll find it, I’m sure.”

“Oh really, and what makes you so sure.”

The man backed of and laughed.  Spinning around he bowed before Stan.  “Why that’s simple.  I’m the guardian of this place.  I go by many names; Guardian, Keeper of Portals, Master of the In-Between, but you can call me my favorite name… Bob.  Anyhow to find your way back you simply need to keep looking!”

Stan rubbed his eyes.  “Okay then Bob, which way should I…” As he looked back up he realized Bob was gone.  Quickly looking around for him Stan realized he had slipped away.  Groaning angrily Stan moaned to himself “Guess I’m on my own.”

For hours, days, months, years, Stan walked.  He watched as many of the archways created portals, yet each time he knew they were not his.  Somewhere deep down he knew Bob was right, that his portal would be special to him somehow, he just didn’t know how. 

Every once in a while, he would stop to look into one of the portals, hoping to see a glimpse of home.  They were like mirrors into other worlds, yet none of them his.  Some he saw kids playing, others heroes slaying, and in a rare few a donkey braying.  Yet none of these interested him.

Finally tiring out from all his searching Stan decided to take a seat on a large comfy looking rock and take a load off.  The rock was across from an archway that gave Stan pause.  Something was different about this archway.  He felt… an attraction to it.  Yet there was no portal. 

Stan let out a sigh, a sigh that seemed to echo to his right.  Looking over he noticed his reflection through the outcropping.  “Oh, just my reflection.” He said out loud.  Again, the words seemed louder than normal. 

As Stan looked closer, he noticed something odd.  While Stan had been wearing his casual clothes when he went through the portal, and indeed still was, his reflection was wearing the gear he wore when he was out on the boat with Ford.

Stan lifted his arm, just to be sure.  The reflection did the same.  He made a face and the reflection followed suit.  Stan sprang up and danced his happy dance, only for the reflection to do the same.  Satisfied that it was just a reflection Stan sad back down and leaned back.

“Guess it was only an illusion.”  Stan said… or didn’t.  Stan jerked up as he saw the reflection sigh and droop his shoulders. 

“Wait, you’re real?” Stan called out to his other self.  The other him looked up, shocked. 

“You’re… me?  You’re not another viewing portal?” The other Stan asked.

“Err, I guess not?”  Stan replied.  He wasn’t really sure how it worked in this in-between.

The two men looked at each other for a long while.  A few hands reaching out, touching here or there, just to make sure it wasn’t another illusion.

“Well I’ll be.  Never thought I’d see another me in here!” The other Stan chuckled.  “Wow, I really do look like dad.”

“No, you look like dad!” Stan replied.  It dawned on him that he looked the same.  “Well you would if you were wearing something decent!”

“Decent?” The other Stan furled his brow. “You look like you’ve just got back from the disco tech.”

“Fisherman.”

“Hippie.”

“Lay about.”

“Bum.”

Both men stared intensely into each other’s eyes.  Finally, both broke into a hearty laugh as each slapped the others shoulder.

“Ahh, its good to see people again.  Real people, even if they are just me.”

“Well I’m the best company anyway!  Nothing says best friend like someone with all of your interests!”

The other Stan nodded and wiped a small tear that had formed under his eye away.  “So.  How did you get here?”  He asked Stan.

Stan shrugged.  “Donno really.  One minute I was playing with Mabel and Abby out in the yard and the next I get sucked into this portal in the basement.”

“Who’s Abby?” 

“Oh, she’s this sweet little girl, just like Mabel.  You’d love her!”  Stan smiled affectionately.  “She’s had a hard life so its good that the two of them get along.”

“Wonderful!”  The other Stan smiled back.  “Always happy to hear Mabel’s doing well.  How’s Dipper doing?”

“He’s good.  Still paranoid as ever but he’s making friends.  Got his first girlfriend recently so that’s going for him.”

“What?  Girlfriend?  I don’t believe it.”  The other Stan slapped his knee.

“Yup, remember that prissy rich girl, Pacifica?  Turns out she had a thing for him for a while.”

“No way, I thought it’d be Wendy that fell for him, she was always sweet on the boy!”

“Nope, still just friends, though if you ask me, I think she was a little old for him.”

“Right, right.”

Both men sighed as they sat back down.

“So, what about you?  How’d you get here?”  Stan asked his other self.  The smile on his other self’s face faded.

“I… Don’t wanna talk about it.”  The other Stan looked away.

“What?  Why?”  Stan asked, confused.  There shouldn’t be anything they couldn’t talk about with each other, they were Stan after all.

“Because I did something horrible…”

Stan chuckle.  “Were Stan Pines, we do something horrible every day.  Now come on, tell me.”

“No, you don’t understand.  I did something I can’t take back.  Something unlike anything we’ve ever done before.”

“Now I’ve got to know.  Did we steal something huge?  Was it a super big diamond or something?  Come one tell me!”  He leaned in close to his other self, egging him on. 

“I killed someone close to us” The other Stan finally turned in anger to Stan.  The tears were rolling down his eyes.  “I killed Ford…”

“What?” Stan could only pull back stunned.  He’d had spats with his brother before, portal incident withstanding, but nothing that he could ever figure would cause him to want to kills his brother. “How?”

The other Stan looked at the ground, unsure of how to proceed.  “Do you remember that thing we fought in Wierdmageddon, Bill Cipher?”

Stan shook his head.  “Honestly no, Ford’s talked about him a bunch but I’ve got no memory of him… wait a minute, did you say Wierdmageddon?”

The other Stan nodded.  ‘That it!’ Stan thought to himself. ‘That’s the term that Mason used.  This guy must be from his timeline.’

The other Stan nodded.  “Yeah, I did.”  He sighed.  “It all happened so _quickly_.  There was barely any time for me to react to what happened.  One moment we were on the boat and the next I was here.”

Stan shifted uncomfortably.  He knew his other self was holding back.  It only took their eyes locking once for his other self to realize he would have to give him the whole story.

Sighing again he continued.  “We were on the boat, on our way to an anomaly near the arctic circle.  Ford wouldn’t shut up about that Bill guy.  Bill this, Bill that.  It was like the only thing he ever talked about.  Well when we reached the tear in reality Ford’s tone shifted.  He said something about it being a rogue portal or something and that’s when it happened.”

“One second I was standing there looking into the portal the next I was laughing uncontrollably.  Ford looked at me with horror in his eyes.  To be honest I kinda knew what was happening.  All of my memories were starting to flood back to me, the fight at the pyramid, the kids luring Bill away, even the memory gun erasing my memory.”

Stan shifted again.  For a time he too had flashes of memories about those events, the big issue was he could never remember who’s pyramid they were in, or who the kids lured away.

“Bill was back in my body and he had full control like he had the keys to my ignition, and I was his Stanlymobile.  It was like watching my life from a TV screen.  I could think all I wanted but I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“So what happened?  Did you beat him again?”

The other Stan shook his head.  “No, we lost this time, no memory gun remember?  He chided Ford for not finishing him off the first time and proceeded to threaten to kill me if Ford didn’t give him the formula to break Gravity Fall’s barrier.”

Stan watched as his fists clenched tightly.  “I wanted to scream not to do it but I couldn’t.  Bill had me the palm of his grubby hand and there was nothing I could do.  I could only watch as Ford told him that all he needed was a massive blast of psychic energy.  Ford thought he was smart too, he laughed that there was no one that could do that.”

“Yet there was.”  The other Stan looked at the archway.  “And that someone was a lot closer that we thought, or at least that was what Bill said as he cackled.  Ford tried to tell him to let me go but Bill had one last thing he wanted to do.”

“What was that?”  Stan asked, already knowing the next part.

“He needed to eliminate anyone who could stop him this time.  He used my body, _my body_ , to grab Ford by the neck.  He was stronger than I was, Ford couldn’t fight him off.  Then, I just watched as he dropped his motionless body overboard.  I watched as Fords body sank below the dark depths of the ocean.”

Stan didn’t have the words, neither one did.  It took a long time before one of them spoke again.  It was the only thing that Stan could think of to comfort himself when he spoke, yet he knew it wasn’t enough.

“But it was Bill that did that wasn’t it?  You’re absolved of any blame…”

“But it’s my fault!”  The other Stan shouted.  “If I hadn’t remembered him, if I hadn’t let him back in this would have never happened.  If I had been stronger…”

The other Stan slammed his fist in to the rock hard enough that a small chip broke off.  He fevered breath telling Stan exactly what he was thinking.

“Yet, you know what?  The real reason I blame myself isn’t because it was my body.  No, Bill could have used anyone to do it.  The real reason is because for a small moment I actually wanted Ford to go away again.”

“You can’t mean tha…”

“He stole our lives!  40 years of our lives was lost to his stupid brain.  If he had never made that stupid machine, if he had never wrote those stupid journals, none of this would have happened.  I wanted this… and I got what I wanted, just…”

“Not how we wanted it.”  Stan admitted.  In his own mind he too had thought about the fact that he had lost so much to his brother, yet no where could he ever think of a time he would have wished him dead.

“Yeah, not how I wanted it.”  He sighed.  “Bill had done the deed but he wasn’t done.  He decided that rather than swimming as far down as possible before letting me go he would do me a favor and throw my body in the rogue portal.  How stupid was I, I actually thought that might be a better alternative to death.”

“So that’s how you ended up here.”

“That’s how my time in this purgatory started.”

 

* * *

  

“Purgatory?” Stan asked as he stood up and stretched. “I guess you could call all this something like that.”

The other Stan shook his head as he too stretched out.  “You don’t understand.”  He pointed to the archway in front of him.  “It took me all of a minute to find this portal, the way back, yet I’ve never been able to go through it.”

Stan looked at the archway.  The feeling he had deep within him told him that the other Stan was right, this was the portal home.  Yet how would he get it open.  As if reading his mind, the other Stan continued.

“It’s not like there has never been an opening.  I wouldn’t have called it purgatory if there hadn’t, that’d just been boring.  No, my penance came with the fact that until recently there was always a portal open.”

Stan looked confused at his other self.  “Then why not go through it?”

The others Stan’s eyes only showed the sadness of a man defeated.  “I… couldn’t.”

“What? It was right there and you didn’t?  What kind of Stan are you?”

He shook his head.  “No, I mean I couldn’t, not wouldn’t.  The portal wasn’t that kind.  It was more… more like a mirror, one of those two way mirrors we kept standing behind while being identified by a witness.  The only thing I could do was watch what was happening to my world and hate myself for being a part of it.”

“Oh… Yeah, that sounds pretty bad.”  Stan rubbed the back of his neck.  “I wouldn’t want to watch it either.”

“Yet I did, from the beginning of the end to the very end of the beginning.”

Stan sighed as he took his seat again.  “Must have been hard on you, you know, to watch everything fall apart.”

“You have no idea.”

“Wanna… wanna talk about it?  Maybe it’ll give you a little peace of mind or something.”

The other Stan stared at the portal for a while before turning to Stan and taking his seat next to him.   He closed his eyes, recounting the moments he had watched, only to jump back when he reached the end.

“Okay…”

Stan shifted on the rock, trying to get comfortable.  Not like that was really possible considering it was _a rock_ , but he made do.

“You know how Ford said something about a mind blast or something like that?  When Ford thought he was safe as nobody could do that, he was wrong.”

“Yeah, I remember that.”

“Bill… laughed when he realized who it was.  Honestly, I couldn’t believe it either but… it made sense, sorta.”

“Who was it.” Stan leaned in.

“Well, remember how Ma ran her phone psychic business and we all thought it was a sham?”

Stan nodded.

“Well… it wasn’t as much of a sham as we thought.  She really had the gift, and one of her kids got it from her.”

Stan was shocked.  They always thought that Ma was just good a lying.  Never had it occurred to him that she really had any sort of powers or anything.  “Wait, Ma had already passed before Ford came back, at least in my time.  How did he use her to break the barrier?”

The other Stan nodded.  “Ma was passed in my time too.  It wasn’t her.”

Stan thought to himself.  If Ford was dead and he was here that just left…

“Sherman.”  The other Stan finished his thought. “Sherman inherited Ma’s powers.  That was how he was always a little ahead of what was going on.  He could see things, future things, and he could affect people.  Make um calm down and stuff.”

Stan was shocked.  His brother was a psychic, yet what shocked him more was he didn’t notice.  Stan couldn’t help but to laugh. “I guess we really were the only normal one in the family.”

This caused the other stan to chuckle with him.  “Yea, I guess we were.”  He sighed as he got back to his story.  “It took Bill six years to find Sherman proper.  I watched as he invaded his dreams, learned all about him.  It was then that he made his deal.”

“What deal?” Stan asked, worried.

“He offered to take him to where his brothers were hidden, so long as he did this ‘one little thing.’  Sherman jumped at the chance to see his brothers again, Ford and me, but he didn’t know it was already too late.”

“He didn’t!  Sherman’s smart, he would never…”

“He did, in a heartbeat.” 

Stan squinted and looked up.  How could his brothers both be so stupid as to take a deal with that guy?  Then again, Stan realized that may run in the family since he did too, with the play and all.  “I guess we can’t blame him, can we?”

The other Stan shook his head.  “No, we’re still the one at fault for this.”  He paused a second before continuing.  “Bill already knew he’d won.  Yet at that instant he only wished to torture those that had stopped him before.  He knew everyone had gathered in Gravity Falls again and he was scheming.”

“So, what happened next?”

“Exactly what you think did.  Bill broke the barrier using Sherman’s powers.  Somehow the barrier was already weak enough that Sherman’s powers as an old man was enough.  Bill discarded Sherman as quickly as he had accepted him.  He told him the truth and that broke Sherman’s heart… and his mind.”

Stan shifted uncomfortably, this was getting hard to take.  First he kills his brother and now his other brother has gone mad?  This might be too much, even for him.

“Bill immediately went for his body again.  The kids tried to fight him off but it was no use.  Bill was mad with power and there was nothing they could do to stop it.” 

Stan ringed his hands as he watched his other self-clench is fists in anger.  How could Bill do that?  The kids were smart, why couldn’t they stop him?

“The rest becomes fuzzy, broken up.  The portal wasn’t always open but I know that over the course of four more years Dipper lead the townsfolk in a desperate bid for survival.  All that changed one day when something weird happened.”

“What, what happened.”

The other Stan took his time, trying to recount all of the details.  “One day, out of the blue, when several of their companions were away something showed up, something that gave them a clue.”

“What?”

“Dipper and Mabel.  Not the Dipper and Mabel who had been living in Gravity Falls for those four years but their younger selves.  They were with Soos and some weird nearly bald guy.”

Stan couldn’t think of anyone who met that description, unfortunately.

“It did something.  It gave Dipper hope.  Hope that he might do something to change their fate.  I watched as over the next two years, even as they lost more companions they never gave up.  They fought and fought until they were worked to the bone to try to build something.  One day, six years after Bill had returned, they were ready.  Their hope focused all into one thing, a thing Dipper steped into.  A portal.”

“Mason.”  Things began to add up for Stan.

“A portal into the past.”

“He came back.”  Things he hadn’t quite gotten until now.

“A hope for the future.”

“He changed our ending.”  Things that Ford had gotten immediately.

“A way forward, not into the horrible ending that was Gravity Falls, but a new one of his own making.”

“He saved me from Bill, saved Sherman by moving him inside the barrier.”  Things that he now knew were a glimmer of hope for the future.

“But then…”  The others Stan’s hopeful tone vanished.  “The world ended.  I saw the world burn in a flash of light and everything was gone except that cackling demon.  Shortly after that the portals stopped opening.  They were all dead.”

Stan shook his head.  “No, they made it back!” He excitedly shouted at his other self.  Looking at the archway he realized what must have happened.  “I may not understand the mumbo-jumbo of it but don’t you get it.  Mason made it back, he did it!  You can’t see anything more because he changed the future!”

“Mason?”

“Dipper’s real name.”  Stan confirmed.  “He started using it…”

“Wait…” The other Stan cut him off.  “His real name is Mason?  That’s hilarious.”  He broke out in laughter.

Stan couldn’t help but to join him.  It never really dawned on him that the name was actually such an old timey one like Mason.  It was kinda funny.   Shaking himself from his laughter he tried to continue.

“Listen to me.  Your future was changed.  I’m currently in Gravity Falls a year after we got Ford back.  The kids are there and so is Dipper and Mabel’s future selves, along with a few others.”

The other Stan stopped laughing and wiped a tear from his eye.  “So he really made it, huh?  I’m… I’m so happy for them.”

“We just need to find a way out of here and you can rejoin them.  I’m sure they’d be…”

“No.”

“What?  What do you mean no?”

“I told you, this is my purgatory.  I don’t deserve to go back.”

Stan started to become angry at himself.  “What do you mean! I…”

A loud thunder clasp and a small shockwave alerted the two to something happening with the archway.  The Stans watched as a portal opened just on the inside of it.

“It can’t be…”  The other Stan said, shocked.

“What is it?  Another viewing portal?”

“No… that’s not a viewing portal.  That one leads home.”

Stan ran up to the portal, just close enough he could start to feel the pull.  Turning around he called for his other self.  “Come on!  Let’s go then!”

The other Stan slowly walked up to him.  When he was just inches from his other self he leaned in an whispered.  “No, this is where I need to stay.”  Gently pushing his other self the other Stan forced Stan past the point of no return. 

“No!  Come with me!”  Stan shouted as his body lifted off the ground.

“This is what I deserve.  You’ve got to lead the better life Stan!  Go, live for the both of us!”

“NOOOOOO!”  Stan shouted as he watched the portal swallow him and the sight of his other self disappear.

When Stan came to he could see the lights barely flickering around him.  The wind whipping around gave him a good indication of where he was.  Looking around the mansion portal room was dark, only the emergency lights were on at the moment.

After a second the regular lights flickered back on and Stan could see Mason, Ford, and Fiddleford looking at him in disbelief.  Dipper, Mabel, and Sherman stood in the back, mouths agape.  Wendy, Dee, Gideon, Pacifica, and Abby stood off to the side.

It only took a second for Dipper and Mabel to cross the room and latch onto their Grunkle. 

“Grunkle Stan!” Both shouted in unison as they hugged him.

“Kids!” Stan hugged them back.

As everyone gathered around Stan to greet their new multiverse traveler Mason held back.  Sherman walked up to him from behind and placed his hand on his shoulder. 

“You did it.” Sherman whispered.

“Yeah, we did.”

Ford, almost in tears, approached Stan from behind his console.  “Welcome home Stanely.”

As Stan let go of the twins, he stood to meet his brother.  In a flash he hugged him tightly, surprising Ford.

“Ford, I think it’s time we sat down and had a long talk…”

 

* * *

  

Journal Excerpt: July 14, 2018:  We found Mabel in the park.  Candy told me all she was doing was staring at the sky and repeating the same phrase.  “When the walls of Gravity Falls the beast shall return and all shall pause.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was one angst. Only 4 more to go. Next one is going to be considerably more happy.


	23. Paint the Town Purple and Blue.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long awaited episode finally arrives!

Journal Excerpt: July 14, 2018:  We finally got Mabel to calm down after offering her favorite ice cream.  She doesn’t remember why or what she was shouting but she seems especially on edge today.  All I know is that warning seems like….  (The writing cuts off).

 

* * *

  

Dipper tightened the last loop on the blue bow tie as he looked himself in the mirror.  “Are you sure the tie is necessary?  I mean it’s not like were going to a fancy ball or anything.”  For what is was worth, Dipper looked good in a suit jacket.  Not like he hadn’t worn one before, there was the ball last year, plus the time that Bill took over his body, but he never really was comfortable in these.

“Of course I am.” Grunkle Stan replied.  “You look dapper in that.” Stan paused to think a second. “Am I using that right?” He asked himself.  Nodding to confirm he was, he looked over Dipper in the mirror, noting how good his nephew looked.  “You’ll knock her dead out there.”

Dipper smiled as Stan nudged him with his fist.  “I guess.” He replied as Stan reached over and fixed the bowtie. “I just hope this isn’t too low class for her.  I mean, I’m sure Pacifica’s used to some high fashion being wealthy and all.”

“Fashion smashion, Dipper she’s gonna fall for you all over again when she sees you.”  Stan thought of something then ran off. “Wait right there.” He shouted as he left.

Dipper looked himself over again.  He smiled.  “Hey.” He said to his reflection in the smoothest tone he could.  Even then it still came out more cute than smooth.  “No, Pacifica would hate that.”  He thought about it, getting a nonchalant grin.  “Sup babe.”

He immediately regretted that one.  Sighing he looked to the door hoping Grunkle Stan, or Grunkle Ford, or even Grandpa Sherman would bust in and tell him they needed him for something tonight and he would have to cancel.  He was just too worried this was going to end in disaster and it would ruin his relationship with Pacifica.

No such luck as Grunkle Stan returned.  Dipper noticed he was holding two things, one a box, and the other a bottle.

“Listen kid, I know it’s normally a thing to give these things to your own kid but I figure since I didn’t have any and all, and since you are the closest thing I have to a son, I’d let you have them.”  He reached out and offered Dipper the box.

Dipper took the small box in hand; its velvety texture was soft to the touch.  Dipper turned it to find a small clasp holding it shut.   Undoing the clasp, he opened the box to find two small, almost plain set of cufflinks tucked away under some tissue.

“Grunkle Stan, are these…”

“Your Great Grandfathers cufflinks.  The same ones he always wore when he ran the shop we all grew up in.  I’m sure Sherman would have loved to give them to you but seeing as I got them, I figured I was the one to do the honors.”

“Grunkle Stan…”

“Yea Dipper?” Stan looked so happy at his nephew.

“You know its customary to do this at a wedding right?”

Stan’s smile dropped.  ‘Oops’ he thought ‘he’s right.’

“Pacifica and I are only going out for a date, a dinner and a movie, then a walk in the park while we wait for you guys to pick us up.”

“Uhh… Yeah, about that…” Stan quickly snatched away the cufflinks.  “I guess I was just being a little hasty.   Here, this was the other thing.”  Stan offered out the bottle.

Dipper cautiously took it, not really sure what it was.  Reading the label, he realized it was in some foreign language.  “What is it?” He finally asked.

“It’s cologne.  I figure since you’re basically a man now that you should have your own.”

“Thanks but, I think I’ll…”

“Here, I’ll show you how to use it.” Stan quickly grabbed the bottle and Dipper’s wrists in one go.  In a flash of movement he dabbed a little of the liquid on Dipper’s wrists and rubbed them together.  Then he quickly applied a little dab to Dipper neck.  “There, _all_ done!”

Dipper quickly jumped back, nearly hitting the mirror, once Stan let his arms go.  “Ew now I smell like… smell like…”  Dipper took a small whiff of the scent.  He had been expecting to smell like an old man now but to his pleasant surprise he smelled a bit flowery.  “I smell good.”

“See?” Stan said.  “I’m the expert when it comes to these things, trust me.”

Never in his life would Dipper have trusted Grunkle Stan after the fiasco last year _but_ this was proving him wrong.

“Thanks Grunkle Stan.” Dipper smiled and hugged Stan who squeezed him back.

“My pleasure.  Now, you ready to go out there?”  Stan asked, giddy with anticipation.

Dipper nodded.  Stan smiled and motioned for him to make his way to the door.

 

Up in the living room Mabel, Abby, and Grandpa Sherman were sitting around watching TV as the day wound to an end. Abby couldn’t help but to yawn as exhaustion crept up on her. 

“Tune in next week for another exciting episode of Ducktective Returns!” The TV blared out as the show ended.  Sherman flicked the remote to mute it, giving them a little time to speak while the commercials were playing.

“Man, that Ducktective’s new season is exciting.”  Sherman nodded.

“Yea, but with a new show runner I feel like it’s not the same.”  Mabel noted.

“At least we have more of it.  I like this show, regardless of who’s doing it.” Abby added with a smile, then a yawn.  Getting up from the floor she rubbed her eyes.  “I think I’m gonna call it a night.”

“Okay little one, sleep tight.”  Sherman patted her on the head from his seat on the recliner. 

Mabel hopped up and hugged her.  “Night Abby.  See you in the morning.”

Abby could only sleepily nod back as she made her way to the stairs.  The two waited as they watched her slowly stumble around the corner and up the stairs.

“Aww, she’s going to miss all the fun.” Mabel shrugged.  “Oh well.”

“What fun?”  Sherman asked.

“Oh, oh, guess who has a date tonight!”

“Well it certainly isn’t me so… I give up.”

“Aww, you’re no fun.  Anyway, Dipper has a date tonight!”

“Really?  Was that tonight already?  It was with that young Pacifica girl right, the one with the pretty blond hair?”

Mabel nodded excitedly.  “Yup, he’s going out to dinner and a movie and I bet they’re gonna kiss.” She smooched her mouth up like she was kissing someone.

“Um, Mabel…”  Sherman raised his hand.

“Those two are so in love and I, the love master, will make sure that they have the time of their lives tonight!”

“Mabel deary…”

“They’re gonna kiss and hug, and then they’re going to…”

“MABEL” Dipper shouted from behind her.

Flipping around she saw a very dapper Dipper in a very deep red.  Embarrassed as he was Dipper couldn’t believe what his sister was saying.

“Oh hi Dipper.  Oh my gosh, you look amazing little brother.”  She jumped over and hugged him.  Taking a small whiff of his scent she smiled. “You smell amazing.  Are you sure you’re really my brother and not some weird alien clone?”

Dipper pushed her off as Stan made his way over to where Sherman was sitting.  “No Mabel its me.”

“So, you ready for the excitement tonight?” Mabel asked excitedly. 

“Mabel, you’re not coming.”  He put is foot down.  “This is a date between Pacifica and I.  No Mabels allowed.  Grunkle Stan is just being nice enough to drop me off and pick me up, nothing more.”

“Well hey, I think I did a little more than that.”  Stan commented.

Dipper sighed.  “Fine, and helped me dress and got me the cologne.”

“Aww, I just wanted to watch you squirm when you saw Pacifica all dressed up.”

“No Mabel, this is a date, a _date_ , I’m not going to have anything go wrong and spoil this for us.”

“Alright fine.  But you’ve gotta tell me how it went when you get back.” She smirked.  “If you get back.” She added slyly.

“Ahem.” Sherman coughed. “Mabel, maybe you should let him just enjoy himself.”

Mabel rolled her eyes.  “Fine.”  Stopping on the clock she noticed the time.  “Shouldn’t you guys be on the road by now?”

Dipper and Stan both looked at the time and realized the were indeed going to be late if they didn’t leave _now_.  Grabbing his keys Stan met Dipper at the door.

“Bye Mabel, Bye Grandpa Sherman.” Dipper waved to his relatives as he made his way out.

“Stan!” Sherman called out.

“I know, I know, ‘drive safe and have a good time’” Stan groaned.

“Good.”

As Stan shut the door behind him they listened for a moment for the vehicle to kick in and drive away.

“Dipper looked good, don’t you think.” Sherman commented to Mabel.

“Yea, I’ve never actually seen him look, or smell, that good before.  I think he’s really going to blow Pacifica away tonight.”

“I hope so too.” He paused. “So, are you going to shadow them?”

Mabel looked at her grandfather.  “You mean you’re not?”

Sherman gave her a smirk.  “You couldn’t stop me if you tried.”

“I’ll already got your keys.” She replied as she dangled his keys in front of him.

“That’s my baby girl.” He laughed as he got up and reached for his coat.

 

* * *

 

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay on your own?” Stan asked from the window.

Dipper nodded.  “I’ll be fine Grunkle Stan, remember, just meet us at the park at ten.”

“Okay kiddo, you have a blast.” Stan waved goodbye as he hit the gas and drove right into traffic.

Dipper tensed as he watched Stan nearly hit another car before getting into the right lane.  He noted to himself that he would have to ask Grunkle Ford to do something about Grunkle Stan’s driving ability someday.  Maybe new glasses were in order or something?

With Stan now a speck in the distance Dipper turned to the restaurant entrance.  The ‘Chef’ was a new establishment in Gravity Falls, having only opened just a few months ago.  When he first came back Dipper had scoffed at the establishment is too highbrow for his sister and him, yet here he was about to go get the table he had reserved for himself and his date this evening.

“Pardon.”  The maître d’ said in a thick French accent as Dipper approached. “Do you have a reservation?”

“Umm yeah, its under Pines.”  Dipper leaned forward to try to see the guest book.

“Pines, Pines, I see no Pines.” 

“What?” Dipper exclaimed.  “Last time I leave this up to Mabel to make a reservation.”  Dipper sighed.  “Is there any chance you have a table open?”

“Monsieur, we are the highest of dining establishments that Gravity Falls has to offer.  We have a wait list that takes months to go through.  We do _not_ have an open table.”

“Oh boy, what do I tell Pacifica?”  Dipper asked himself.

“Pacifica?  Do you mean Mademoiselle Northwest?”

“Yeah, we have a date tonight and…”

“Oh ho, why did you not say so?  They have a table permanently reserved here for the Northwest family.  Please, come with me.”

Dipper gritted his teeth.  He was supposed to be the one to have set all this up and now he was using Pacifica’s family name.  It was no use fretting about though, they had a table and at least he would pay the bill, so there was that.

The maître d led Dipper to a cozy little table in the back portion of the patio.  The table was set with candles and the setting sun gave it the warmest of lights.  Dipper couldn’t believe how good this spot looked, his reservation issues aside, this was the absolute best place he could have asked for.

“Your table monsieur. I shall have the waitstaff personally attend to the two of you above all others, once Mademoiselle Northwest arrives, of course.  Until then, please help yourself to some water.”  He poured a glass in one of the fanciest water glasses Dipper had ever seen.  Only at the Northwest Mansion itself did he see such decorum on a table.

“Thanks, umm…”

“Paris, mon name is Monsieur Paris and I shall guide your date to this table, once she arrives.  Until then, please enjoy the sunset over the beautiful falls.”

Dipper took his seat as Paris took his leave.  Looking out it was absolutely stunning how the sun slowly crept down behind the falls.   Dipper smiled as he took in the view.  ‘This night is going to be wonderful’ he thought to himself.

Turning to the task at hand Dipper took the menu from the table and began reading it to himself.  Just several items in he was gulping hard.  One thing you get when you go to fancy places was fancy prices and these were the fanciest.  He could only think of the time Gideon took Mabel to the restaurant up on the hill.  She’d said that if he wasn’t paying she would have never been able to afford it herself.

Dipper on the hand had worked his butt off for this night.  He knew it was going to cost him so he had taken up extra shifts at the shack working the front.  Unlike Grunkle Stan Soos actually paid him a decent salary and he had saved up every penny he could for this night. 

He ran the numbers in his head.  So long as they didn’t order desert he should barely manage to scrape by and still have enough for popcorn at the theater.

Putting the menu down he gently tapped his foot, waiting and wondering where Pacifica was.  No sooner did he think it then he heard a voice call out to him.

“Did you wait long?”

“No I just got heeeeee…”  Dipper’s jaw dropped at the sight before him.

Standing next to him was Pacifica.  She was wearing a light purple dress that sparkled gently in the light.  The fading sun illuminated behind her like a shining halo.  Her make-up, while normally perfect, was even more so tonight.  She was, at that very moment, the view of perfection that Dipper had always imagined.

“I… I… I…” Dipper stuttered.  This caused Pacifica to laugh gently.

“So I guess you like the dress?” 

“You look absolutely stunning on it, in it.  You look gorgeous.” Dipper managed as he blushed.

Pacifica blushed herself as she walked over to her seat.  “Thanks…” She managed herself. “You look good too. Very handsome.”

Dipper jumped up and pulled the chair out for her to sit in.  “Milady.” He said in a joking manner.

“Why thank you.” Pacifica giggled as she took her seat.

Returning to his seat both teens looked at each other for a moment before blushing several shades of red and grabbing and ducking behind their menus.

“So, what’s good here?” Dipper asked.

“Daddy says the steak good but the lobster is to die for.”

Dipper looked at the steak.  ‘Ouch’ he thought ‘Too much for me.’  Looking at the lobster he almost dropped over in shock.  ‘This must be how Grunkle Stan feels every time he spends money.  Well as long as Pacifica is happy I’ll get her whatever she wants.’

“What are you getting?” Dipper asked.

Pacifica put her menu down and looked at Dipper, still hiding behind his.  “Dipper, are you okay with this?”

“What? Oh yeah I’m fine, I mean I ate before I came so…”

“You’re lying.”  She called him on his bluff.

Putting the menu down Dipper looked at Pacifica and frowned a little.  “Look, Pacifica, I said I was going to get tonight so I’m getting it.  It doesn’t matter what I get so long as your happy.”

Pacifica shook her head.  “You’re wrong.  If you’re not happy then I can’t be happy.  How about this, I’ll treat you this time and next time we go somewhere… more reasonable for what you can do.”

“But…”

“No butts Mr.!  Just accept the free meal and like it.  Who knows, you might marry a rich girl one day and be able to eat like this all the time.”

“Marry?” Dipper asked blushing hard.

Pacifica realized what she had said and blushed hard too.  Quickly she threw up her menu to block the two of them again.  Once blood had left their cheeks Dipper asked the question that was burning in his mind.

“So… what ever happened with your dad?”  Dipper asked calmly.  “Is he, still mad? Is he still going to send you off?”

Pacifica sighed.  “No, Daddy… changed his mind.  He agreed to let me stay the rest of the summer but I think he still wants to send me to boarding school after this year.”

“That’s great!” Dipper exclaimed.  “I mean, it sucks about the boarding school but it’s great you’re staying.  We can hang out more this summer and we’ll keep in contact when your away.”

Pacifica giggled. “That’s what I like about you, you always see the bright side in the worst.”

Dipper waved her off.  “Naa, that’s my sister.  I’m a tried and true pessimist.  I’m just happy we get to hang out more.”

“You really mean that?”

Dipper nodded enthusiastically.  “Yeah, I mean it.”

“Okay then, I’ll hold you to that.”

 

Unbeknownst to the two love birds two pairs of eyes were quietly watching.  Mabel and Sherman had taken up a table nearby, close enough to hear but far enough that they couldn’t be noticed.  Sherman was looking at a menu while Mabel tried her best to listen in.

“I don’t know how you got this table Mabel but bravo.”  Sherman shivered as he looked at the menu.  “But man, have you looked at these prices.  I’m worried Dipper won’t have enough on him for this place.”

“I know a guy, plus Dipper’s been working hard to earn money for this, he’ll be fine..” Mabel quickly responded.  “Now shush, I’m trying to hear them.”

Without looking up Sherman quietly told her what they were saying.  “He just wants to hang out with her more, that’s it.”

“Whaaaat?  That’s it?  Man, that’s boring.  Get to the good stuff Dipper!”

Sherman sighed. “Mabel, you know this is a first date right?  The good stuff doesn’t happen till later.” Sherman paused, realizing what he had just said.   He quickly changed the topic.  “Plus both of them are hungry, nothings going to happen yet.”

Mabel let herself slide down properly in her seat.  “Pft, lame.”

“I know it is but there’s more to tonight than this.  Now, do you want some food or not?”

Mabel looked down at the menu for a moment before snatching it up.  “Oh yeah,” She nodded.  “Let’s eat.”

 

The remainder of the dinner was quiet, neither teen knowing quite what to say as they ate in near silence.  Once the bill was paid, by Pacifica as she promised, the two got up and started down the street to the cineplex.  Held up briefly while Sherman chatted with the waiter while paying the other two quietly but quickly made their way down the street.

“Look, look!” Mabel quietly pointed out.  “There they are.”

“Targets sighted.” Sherman smirked.  “Would you look at that…”

Mabel took a closer look and noticed the two were holding hands as they walked down the street.

“Alright, First Base achieved!” Mabel pumped her arm.

Sherman looked at her confused.  “Mabel dearie I don’t think that means what you think that means.”

Mabel looked up “Whatdaya mean?  Doesn’t it go; First base holding hands, second base Kissing, third base is living together, and home plate is marriage?”

“Uhh…” Sherman’s mouth agape.  “You know what, when we get back, I’m going to call your mom and have her explain this to you.”  Looking up he noticed that the two had turned into the theater.  “Uh oh.  Hurry up or we’ll lose them!”

Mabel noticed that the two of them had disappeared and quickly ran after them, followed at a slower pace by Sherman.

 

Dipper looked around when the two of them entered the theater.  The room was essentially empty other than Toby Determined sitting about half way up the room.  Pacifica called for Dipper to join her near the front as she sat down, drink in hand.  Dipper quickly joined her and offered up the popcorn he was holding.

“Want some?”

She shook her head.  “Not right now, I’m still full from dinner.”

“You know you didn’t have to do that, I could have gotten it.”

“I know.”  She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, turning him bright red.  “But I like spoiling you.”

The room darkened as the previews began to roll.  The two could see a pair of people enter but in the darkness weren’t able to see who as the two moved to the back.  Unphased by the newcomers the they watched as the previews played.

“You know the greatest thing about being a teenager?” Dipper asked in a whisper.

“What?” She whispered back.

“We can see any movie we want now that were 13.”

“Oh really, all the things teens we can do and _that’s_ what you think of?”

Dipper blushed again which, thanks to the dark, wasn’t visible to anyone.  “Well… I guess so.” He managed to reply.

The two sat quietly as the previews finished and the last-minute pop up for concessions came on.  Dipper took a handful of the popcorn and tossed it in his mouth.  Reaching for another he bumped a hand.

“Sorry.”  Dipper whispered to Pacifica.

“Wasn’t me.” She replied.

Confused he started to turn around before the movie’s beginning caught his attention again. 

 

In the back Mabel took her seat again next to Grandpa Sherman.

“Whatcha got there?” Sherman asked as she took her seat and popped a kernel in her mouth.

“Popcorn, want some?” She offered him a few pieces as he cocked his eyebrow at her.

“When did you have time to go up front and get that?”

“I didn’t, I just took some from Dipper.  He wasn’t going to eat it all anyway.”

Sherman rolled his eyes.  “Mabel, what if he catches you?”

“Pfft.” She shook it off.  “This is his kind of movie, he’s not going to turn away from the screen for a while.”

Sherman took a look at the screen.  From the bloody font on the credits he started to become a little worried.

“Mabel, what did you say this movie was again?”

“Oh, it’s just ‘Night of the Roving Zombies III.’  Dipper and I’ve seen the other two already.  They’re a bit cheesy but he likes them.”

The worried look on Sherman’s face grew deeper.   “Wait… this is a… horror movie?”

Mabel nodded as she threw another kernel in her mouth.  “Yup, Dipper loves these.” She stopped and thought for a second before smiling wickedly.  “Oh, you sly dog you, I know what you’re doing.  You’re going to scare Pacifica right into your arms.” Mabel coyly whispered. “Dang, he _is_ good.”

“Mabel, I’m not exactly… good… with horror films.  Maybe I’ll just stay outside for this one.”

“Aww, come on.  Don’t you want to see what happens when the zombie pops out and Pacifica jumps into Dipper’s arms?”

Sherman wasn’t so sure.  He had a really bad feeling about this movie and the pull between shadowing his grandson and not having to sit for an hour and a half of a scary movie was making it hard to choose.

Steeling himself he decided to stick around.  “Alright but if this gets bad I’m taking us both out of here.”

“Oh okay.  But I already know it won’t be that bad.”

 

It wasn’t even ten minutes into the film before someone in the back of the theater was screaming scared at the first sighting of the zombies.  The two teens could only laugh at the persons reaction as, to both of them, this was nothing.

“Man, can you believe people find this scary?” Dipper asked quietly.  “We’ve been through way worse.”

“I know, they should have seen the hunting lodge in my mansion when that ghost was inhabiting it.”

“Yeah, the blood in this looks faker than the blood they use for the play.”

The two giggled together as another zombie crawled out of the ground and the person in the back screamed in horror again.

Dipper shook his head.  “Man, that guy is really getting into this movie.  Hasn’t he ever seen the undead before?”

Dipper paused when he heard no response from Pacifica.  Looking over to her he noticed she was smiling.

“Pacifica?”  He reached out and touched her shoulder.

“You’re right… we have been through worse.”  Her smile grew larger.  “But we got out of it each time because of you.”

“I mean, not really just because of me.  There were times that Mabel helped too.”

“Even so, that time my house was haunted, or we lost Mabel’s face, all of those times got better because I was with you.”

“Pacifica, I…”  Dipper withdrew his hand.

“Then the demon attack and even this year with that weird stone that daddy was going to blow up, you were there for me all the way.”

Dipper reached down and held Pacifica’s hand.  The two of them looked at each other, the movie lost to the both of them.  As they leaned in closer the sound of the zombie king roared over the speakers, then the loud thud of someone running out of the theater might as well have been in another dimension. 

As their lips met the explosion of TNT from the movie illuminated them against the background.  The feelings welling up in them came out for the briefest moment. Pulling back from the kiss Pacifica adjusted her hair.

“Whoa.” Was all she could managed in a gentle whisper. “That was…”  She started as she smiled.

Dipper didn’t even give her time to finish when he leaned in and embraced her in another passionate kiss.  It felt as if the kiss lasted for decades, the two were completely unaware of their surroundings.

When the broke this time it was Dipper who was the first to speak up.

“Pacifica I…”  She shushed him by placing her finger on his lips.

“I know. I do too.”

Suddenly the lights came up in the theater and the two turned to see a very angry looking Thompson standing by the doorway.

“Alright, that’s it!”  He yelled, pointing in their general direction.  “You’re out of here!”

The two turned beet red fearing they were now getting kicked out of the theater for their display of affection.  Oddly enough Thompson barreled past them in to the row Toby was sitting in.

“I’ve told you before, no recording devices!”  He yelled at the man, grabbing him by his arm and lifting him up.  “You’re out of here!” He repeated.

The two watched as Thompson grabbed a red rectangular object from just beneath Toby’s hat and held it up.

“Nooo… not my hidden camera!”  Toby cried out.  

Dipper squinted as he looked closer.  “Toby you’re camera’s a mason brick.”

“Aww, I just wanted to upload this to the internet.” He bemoaned as Thompson dragged him away.

“Sorry to disturb you now, the theater is yours.” Thompson nodded to the two kids as he pulled Toby out the door.

Before the lights went back down Dipper looked over to the place the two people who had come in late were and noticed they were gone.  Shrugging he and Pacifica returned to watching the movie as the lights went down… although the movie wasn’t what they focused on the remainder of the runtime.

 

Outside Sherman wheezed as he tried to catch his breath.  Mabel shook her arm free of his grip.  She hadn’t thought he could run that fast, or grab her with such force but fear does things to people.

“Grandpa Sherman, were missing it!” Mabel complained.

“I’m sorry Mabel, that movie is way too scary for anyone to watch.”  Sherman told her.  “I’m going to go back in there and grab those two.”  He quickly turned and started to make his way back into the theater.

“Wait!” Mabel shouted as she grabbed his sleeve.  She wasn’t sure but she got a momentary flash of what they looked like when they left and it dawned on her that they may have been about to do something.  “If you go in now you could ruin the date… also we would have to explain why we were here.”

Sherman grumbled.  She was right, if they had to explain their presence it might hurt Dipper’s chances with this girl going out with him later.  “Fine.” He resigned himself.  “But I’m going to ‘find out’ what he watched later and give him a good scolding.”

Mabel knew that she couldn’t save him from that but at least the damage would be minimal Deciding to set up in the park the two moved out to find the best hiding spot the two set off for the final phase of the date.

 

* * *

  

The only thing illuminating the pathway as Dipper and Pacifica sat on the bench was the occasional streetlamp, the night having completely overtaken the park.  Pacifica rested her head on Dipper’s shoulder and he on her head as the two patiently awaited the night to end, yet neither wanting it to do so.

Pacifica sighed happily.  “This was wonderful tonight, you were wonderful.” She whispered to Dipper. 

Dipper smiled.  “You know, if you’d have told me last year than I’d meet someone as special as you I wouldn’t have believed them.”

“Well do you believe it now?” She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Oh yea.” He turned and kissed her gently on the forehead.  “And I wouldn’t trade it in for anything in a million years.”

Nuzzling in deeper Pacifica began to reminisce. “You know, I’m happy I did this.  To be honest I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me last month that I would find someone like you, someone who actually cared about me.”

Dipper squeezed her shoulder in tighter and smiled.

“I’m glad it happened the way it did.  I mean, I’m not happy I had to confess to you all the way out in the forest, I would have preferred to have you on your knees begging to go out with me…”

“Hey!”

Pacifica giggled.  “But… compared to how else it could have gone I like how it happened.  Honestly with everything going on this year I wasn’t sure if it would have even happened in the first place, or if I would have come to the realization that I had feelings for you or not if it hadn’t happened that way.” 

She played with Dippers fingers, intertwining them with hers in, holding up their palms to see their size differences.  Dipper closed his hand around hers, gripping her with a gentle strength that she was coming to love.

“If Daddy and I hadn’t fought, if you hadn’t found me, then none of this would have happened.”

“I know what you mean Pacifica.  With the return of Bill, meeting our future selves, and just dealing with the day to day weirdness of the town I can see how we could have missed that special moment just between the two of us.  I mean, just last week we found out Wendy was half demon.  How am I supposed to deal with that?”

“She’s what?”

“Yeah, she’s half demon on her mother’s side.  When both of the Wendys went missing it turns out it was because her powers were awakening and her mom showed up to help her or something like that.”

“So, you’ve been hanging out with Wendy, huh?”  Pacifica pouted.

“It’s not like that.” Dipper tried to explain.  “She called us when she got in trouble so we came to her rescue.  Mabel was there too so it wasn’t like I was her knight in shining armor or anything.”

Pacifica giggled as she remembered the girl’s night out she had with Wendy.  “Oh trust me, she’s already got a knight who fought for her honor.”  Dipper looked at her confused.  “Nevermind,” She smiled, “inside joke.”

“Wait… are you jealous of Wendy?”  Pacifica turned away. “Pacifica there’s nothing between us anymore.  Yes, I had a crush on her a year ago and yes, I thought I was in love but as time went on, I realized it wasn’t true, not like with you.”

“But you _did_ have feelings for her.” Pacifica turned completely away to hide her smile.  She tried to keep her composure knowing things Dipper didn’t.

“Pacifica look at me.  What I feel for you is special, nothing is going to change that.  Wendy was… a friend, and I want to keep it that way, nothing else.”

Pacifica turned back as she broke out in laughter.  “Oh, I had you going didn’t I.  Oh, woe is me, my boyfriend had a first crush.”

Dipper couldn’t help but to be surprised, this wasn’t the reaction he was expecting.

“Get over yourself bad boy, I already talked to Wendy at length about this.  Dee and Paz too.   We all agreed that the four of us had feelings for you, or a version of you, at one time but different timelines produced different results.  Wendy has no issue with me dating you and I’m not upset about you having feeling for her in the past.”

Dipper smiled. “Good, cause I…”

“So long as they stay in the past.” Pacifica finished with a serious tone.  “You’re my boyfriend now and I’m not letting any girl steal the best thing that ever happened to me away from me.”  She grabbed his arm tightly and pulled him close.  “Got it?”  She looked into his eyes.

Rather than responding with words Dipper decided to respond with action.  Leaning in he gave her a deep kiss.  Breaking from it she staggered and smiled.

“Good, I’ll take that as a yes.” 

The two turned as they hear some bushes rustling in the wind but quickly return to their conversation.

 

“Muhmuly!” Mabel tries to say through Sherman’s hand over her mouth. 

Sherman shook his head as they had just watched, what was perceived to them as, the first kiss of the night. “Mabel darling you need to stay quiet.  They can probably hear us talking from these bushes.” Sherman quietly whispered to her.

Mabel groaned and rolled her eyes as she looked to Sherman to release her from her vocal prison.  Shooting her back a look she mumbled an agreement through his muffle.

“Good. Now keep it down, this is finally getting interesting and I wanna hear what their saying.”  Sherman let go of her mouth as she nodded. 

“So, is this normal for a date?” Mabel asked quietly.  “I mean, they took all night to kiss and they’re just talking.”

Sherman closed his eyes and shook his head. “Mabel, what exactly did you think people did on dates.”

“I donno.  When Gideon took me for a date he was all lovey dovey all night and stuff.  Then again I wasn’t really into him so… I guess I just didn’t pay attention.”

Sherman put his head down.  “Oh lord Mabel, I’m never letting you near that boy again.”

“It’s okay, he’s… better now.  Now that he’s not trying to make me his queen anymore, he’s actually just a normal kid.  Well normal for someone living in Gravity Falls I guess.  Still has those prisoners following him around I guess.”

“Well regardless, dates can be any which thing you want it to be.  In the cases of these two I would say this was a pretty normal date.  Well, Dipper may be a little forward I should say, not even your Grandma and I kissed on our first date, that too much longer.  And holding hands… well that was a treat by the second…”

Mabel giggled quietly.  “You’re funny Grandpa Sherman.”

“Am I?  I guess I’m just behind in the times.  Maybe it is normal for two kids to kiss on their first date.”

“Well with all of the adventures they’ve been on I wouldn’t quite count this as their first date?  I remember there was this one time, when my face got stolen, that they may or may not have hugged.  Oh man, when I found out about that, Pacifica was furious.  I had to escape from her butlers for over an hour that time.”

“Were they dating back then too?”

“Naa, they were frienemies back then.  Pacifica was all ‘I hate you but I secretly love you’ back then and wouldn’t let her real feelings get out for anyone.”

“So, I guess this was just meant to be then.”

“I guess, I mean…”  Mabel paused to watch Dipper shift a little.  Their conversation was now quiet enough that she couldn’t hear it anymore.”  “I mean he had this major crush on Wendy back then so it wouldn’t have happened.  So long as he was holding a candle for her Pacifica had no chance.”

“And how did this Wendy girl feel.”

Mabel shrugged.  “She thought he was cool but she just saw him as some kid who would hang around with her.  You know, teenager vs pre-teen.  She was out his league and she knew it.  When it came time for him to admit she let him down as gently as she could.”

“Aww, I feel bad for Dipper.”

“It’s okay, Dipper got over her obviously.”   She watched as Dipper placed a quick peck on Pacifica’s cheek.  Her skin brightened for a moment as the blood rushed to her head.  Mabel wished she could hear what he was saying thought as Pacifica seemed to be reacting quite happily to it.

Sherman on the other hand yawned quietly.  Checking his watch he noticed it was just about time for Stan to show up and pick Dipper up.  Granted he knew that Dipper wouldn’t leave until Pacifica was on her way, he had taught him enough of chivalry to guarantee that much, but it shouldn’t be much longer before someone from the Northwest’s household came too.

“Pacifica!” A woman’s voice called out.  The two watched as the lovebirds scrambled to make themselves presentable as an older woman Sherman had not met walked up to them.  “There you are dear.  Are you ready to go?”

Pacifica looked at Dipper for a second and hesitated.  She turned back to the other woman and nodded.  “Yes mother, our date can be concluded.” 

‘So proper’ Sherman thought. ‘even to her mother.  I really like this kid, I’m going to have to meet them on normal terms soon, I think.’

“Well good, we have a lot planned for the morning and you’ve got to get to bed.  Now say good night to your date and let’s go.” 

“Goodnight Dipper.” Pacifica said as she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  “I’ll see you again soon.”

“Goodnight Pacifica.” Dipper replied as he blushed looking at Mrs. Northwest.  “Goodnight Mrs. Northwest.”

“Yes yes, enough with the affection for one night, we really must go.”   The woman turned on her heel and started down the pathway.  Pacifica quickly followed.  In a volume that was only discernable to Pacifica and Sherman she whispered.  “On the ride home, you’re telling me all the details, and don’t spare the juicy stuff.”

“Yes mother.” Pacifica whispered back.

Sherman chuckled quietly to himself.

“What?” Mabel asked him.

“Nothing dearie, just think about living vicariously through others.”

“Huh?”

Sherman shook his head.  “Never mind.”

It was another few minutes before Stan called for Dipper and he quickly ran down the path to be with his Grunkle.  Realizing it their que to leave both Grandpa Sherman and Mabel got up from the place they had been hiding. 

“Well, I think that was enough non-excitement for one night.  How about you Grandpa Sherman?” Mabel asked as she wiped the leaves and twigs off her sweater.  Not hearing a response she turned to see Sherman staring off in the distance.  “What is it.”

Sherman shook his head.  “Someone else is out there.”  He noted as he pointed to the gazebo. 

Not seeing anyone Mabel slowly made her way up the path when she spotted two people setting on the bench in the gazebo.

“Oh my love, how I’ve missed you in my embrace.”  She heard a male voice say.  The accent was familiar for some reason. 

“Mabel darling, maybe you shouldn’t…” Sherman tried to call out with no luck.

It was too late though.  Mabel rounded the bend and got close enough to see who it was.  Gideon and Candy were sitting down holding hands as they stared into each other’s eyes.

“How I wish we could shed this veil of secrecy and allow the world to as a whole to see our love.”  Gideon continued.  “But alas we must always meet in the dark like this, hiding the light of our love from the sun.”

“They must be practicing some new play.”  Mabel thought out loud.  Raising her arm to call out to them she stopped when she heard Candy’s voice.

“Gideon, please.  I know you think Mabel will be hurt by this but she’s mature enough to understand.  If we just set down and tell her…”

“No, you know how much she would be opposed to this.  Mabel would hate the idea that you and I are dating and have been for over half a year now.”

“Wait what…” Mabel asked herself quietly.  “They’ve been keeping this a secret from me…  But they’re my friends, they wouldn’t…”

“Fine, but we have to tell her before the end of summer or else…”  Candy stopped when she noticed someone standing on the path.  “Who’s there?” She called out.

Candy watched as the figure turned and ran away.   Unsure of who it was Candy had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

As far away from them as she could get was how far Mabel ran.  It took a while for Sherman to catch up.

“Did you know?” Mabel asked.

Sherman rubbed the back of his neck.  “For reasons I can’t explain… yes.  But I didn’t know that they were keeping it a secret from you.”  He placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Then why didn’t you tell me!” She shouted as she pushed Sherman away.  “Why did you keep their secret.”

“I… I didn’t have the right to tell you.  Plus, it wasn’t my place considering I didn’t really know why they were keeping it a secret.”  He moped to himself.  He knew he had hurt Mabel but he didn’t know how to fix this now.

“Fine…  I don’t blame you.  They wanted to keep it a secret then they can.”  Something sparked in her mind.  “Let’s go home.”

“Are you sure you’re…”

“LET’S GO!”  Mabel shouted at the top of her lungs.

Sherman pulled out his keys.  “Alright.  It’s been a trying day for everyone.”

The ride home was silent.

 

* * *

  

Journal Excerpt: July 14, 2018: (The writing is far more erratic than normal.)  We watched as what looked like a barrier in the sky shatter.  I’m not sure what that was but all of a sudden the rift in the sky reopened.  We’ve evacuated everyone we could but demons started showing up all over the place.  Thankfully we found a set of tunnels underneath the town that the demons haven’t noticed yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is SOOOOO much easier to write than angst (read last episode). Oh thank the stars both are over. 
> 
> Now the secret is out what repercussions will that have? What was the 'Spark' that Mabel just had?
> 
> The finale is coming quickly... Should I release them all at once or each part individually?


	24. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big day has come. It's time to put Mason's plan into action but will everything go as planned?

Journal Excerpt: July 24, 2018: (The handwriting is neat but there is an obvious tremor to it.) It’s been nearly two weeks since demons started swarming the town.  If Mason and Mabel hadn’t been nearby… I don’t even want to think about that.  I’m worried about Mother and Father but I can’t think of that right now.

Anyway, with the current headcount our supplies should last us another month or so.  Mason talked about going out and scrounging up more but I won’t do it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Gideon unfurled the map he was holding onto the table as Pacifica and Wendy quickly placed a few assorted items on the corners so it would stay open.  The map was of the Gravity Falls area, ten circles with symbols in them were marked in a circular pattern around the town with a smaller circle with some notes written in code near the middle of it.  Mason ran his hand across the surface to flatten it as he studied the details.

“Are you sure you’ve found them all?”  He looked up to Gideon.

Gideon scratched just below his eyepatch as he nodded.  “What do you take me for, a simpleton?  Of course Pacifica and I found them all.”

“Signed sealed and delivered.”  Pacifica added.  “Ten stones, ten symbols, ten _very_ annoying adventures.   I don’t think I’m ever getting this woodland smell out of my clothing, but everything was set up as planned.”

“Good” Mason smiled a little, looking at the map again.  “Finally, we can move on to the penultimate phase.”

The others nodded.

“Shooting Star.” Mason ran his hand over one the circles, that one that had a small shooting star symbol.  “It won’t be long until this means something again.”

“So, what now?” Wendy asked as she looked to her husband.  “When do we begin.”

Mason took the map and furled it, replacing into the case he stored it in.  “Tomorrow… Tomorrow I tell them everything.  We’ll get the help we need and we’ll start the operation as soon as everyone is gathered and up to speed.”

“Did you ever get ahold of the missing one?”  Gideon asked.

Mason nodded.  “Oh yeah, he’s on board.  Once I threatened to blab his little secret he jumped at the chance to help.”

“Oh god, how embarrassing.  I wouldn’t ever want someone to know anything like _that_ about me!” Pacifica faked distain.

Gideon put his hand over his good eye as he shook his head.  “Right, like you’ve got a secret that would embarrass you.”

Pacifica looked at Wendy who smiled back.  “Oh, I think she does.”  Wendy slyly commented.

“Really? What’s it about?”

“Oh yeah, like she’s gonna tell you… Giddy” Pacifica hit Gideon on the shoulder as Wendy laughed her at her own comment.

“Giddy?”

Both girls laughed.  “Never mind that!” Pacifica ended the conversation.

“Ahem.” Mason brought them back in.  “How are we doing with Plan B?”

Smiles left Gideon and Pacifica’s faces.

“What?  What happened.”

“Well its not like we didn’t try.  I mean, he was receptive, it was just…” 

“Just what Pacifica?”

“I don’t think they believed us.” Gideon placed his hand on Pacifica’s shoulder as he explained.  “We did the best we could but I don’t think there is anything more we could have done.”

“Well,” Dipper tone was somber as he tapped the top of the map case, “let’s hope it doesn’t come to that then.”

The room fell silent as the gravity of their situation started to set in.

“Tomorrow huh.”  Wendy looked at Mason.  “This is really happening, isn’t it?”

Mason nodded without looking.  “Yeah, it’s the endgame.  This time however we’ve got preparation on our side.”

 

Soos fiddled with the projector as he waited for everyone to come in and take their seat.  Mason looked around the room as he waited.  Soos had done a nice job of converting the shack’s portal room into a home theater space in such short notice.  One wouldn’t have thought that just a few days ago there may have been an active portal in there.

Stan and Ford were the first to arrive as Mason greeted them warmly.

“There you are!” He called out.  “I was beginning to worry that you wouldn’t make it.”

“Well I hardly think I can miss something this important, isn’t that right Stanley.” Ford nudged his brother.

“I still don’t get why all the fanfare for this.  I thought he was just going to tell us about stuff.  Heck, we already made such a big deal with Sherman’s life story I’m not ready to go through Dipper’s… err…” Stan caught himself.  “Mason’s.”

“I assure you Grunkle Stan, this is more than just a bit of backstory.  Today I will reveal the reason we’ve been in Gravity Falls and what is in store for the future.”

“Sounds like backstory.”

Mason sighed. “Fine, it’s backstory alright.  I figured you guys wanted to know what happened in our world.”

“Oh…” Stan replied.  He still hadn’t told them what full story with what happened when he got sucked in the portal.  Sure, he mentioned the in-between and the weird portals that went elsewhere, that much they got out of him.  Yet, he didn’t have the guts to tell Mason that his Grunkle Stan was still alive out there, that he refused to be saved.  How could he?  After all, if it weren’t himself telling him there would have been no way he would have believed it. 

He only spoke to Ford about clearing the air about their past, something his other self didn’t get a chance to do.  The conversation was long that night.  There was a bit of quiet shouting but Stan felt them better for it.  He can’t say he forgave his brother yet but he could definitely say they were on the right track.

If nothing else today, he figured, Mason would confirm what the other Stan had told him.

“Wendy, good to see you again.  Melody, nice to finally meet.” Mason walked up to Melody and Wendy who had both just arrived.  “Thank you so much for taking care of Abby for us while we’ve been working.”

“Oh, it was our pleasure, Abby’s such an adorable little girl. I love her like my own kid, she’s so sweet!”

“Of course she is she’s…” Mason stopped himself from saying something.  “She’s wonderful, as you say.”  He cleared his throat.  “Anyhow, if the two of you will take your seats we will start soon.

 

At that very moment Abby was up in the twins’ room getting dressed.  “You coming Mabel?”  She asked her companion. 

Mabel was already dressed.  She was currently sitting on the bed, her head pulled down in what she liked to call sweater town.  “No, I’m good.” She replied weakly from underneath her garment.

Abby shrugged.  “Okay, suit yourself.  I think Mason’s going to show us a movie or something so you might not want to miss it.” She could hear a groan underneath the sweater as she waited by the door.  Deciding nothing was going to come of it, Abby took her leave, passing Dipper as he entered the room to get changed out of his bed clothes himself.  “Hey Dipper!” She called out as they passed in the hallway by the stairs.

“See you in a little Abby.” Dipper replied as he shut the door.  Leaning back on the doorway Dipper sighed hard.  “Man I’m still beat from…”  He stopped as he noticed the other occupant of the room.  “Mabel?  What’s wrong, why are you in sweater town?”

He couldn’t see it but he could tell she looked away from him.  The same sort of defiant move one might do when they happened up on the last person they wanted to see at that moment.

“Mabel?  Come on, if there’s something wrong just tell…”

“Last night.” She muttered, barely audible.

‘Oh boy’ Dipper thought.  ‘I didn’t tell her anything about the date.’  It was a realization that after their date the previous night Dipper had come home and fallen asleep right away, barely even making the effort to remove his clothing before his face hit his pillow and he drifted off to sleep.

“Look Mabel, I’m sorry we didn’t talk after the date, I was just so tired…”

“Its not that!” He heard her angrily shout under her sweater.

Dipper shook his head.  This changes things, she doesn’t shout like that for no reason.  Quickly taking his seat beside her on her bed Dipper poked her sweater to get her full attention.

“Can you come out of sweater town so we can talk?”

“I don’t want to.”

Dipper smiled gently.  “I know you don’t but if I want to see what’s wrong with my big sister.”

Mabel poked her head out just enough for Dipper to see her eyes.  “Did you know?”

“Did I know what?” Dipper asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“About them?”

Once again Dipper was confused. “About who, about Mason?”

Mabel shook her head.  “No!” She angrily barked.  “About those two dating.”

Dipper thought for a second.  “Well I guess it makes sense.  I mean, he did keep calling him partner and the way he reacted to seeing him again was a bit… well it reminded me of Blubs and Durland.”

Pulling her sweater down Mabel’s eyes only got angrier.  “No! I mean about Candy and Gideon!”

‘Oh!’ Dipper realized.  ‘She found out…’  He tried to think of something to say but his train of thought was interrupted when she asked him again.

“You knew… didn’t you…” Her eyes narrowed as she gave him a disappointed look. 

“I… guess so?  I mean, they weren’t trying very hard to hide it.”

“From me!”

“Well yeah, I guess they were trying around you.  I mean, I’m sure they had a reason.  Just thinking about the two of them together gives me shivers up my spine.  I mean, to think at one point you and I both…”

“It’s not them dating I’m mad with!”

“What?”

“Why did they keep it a secret?”  She asked him, angry tears starting to well up in her eyes.

Dipper had to think about that.  He had realized it fairly quickly, once he saw the play the first time, plus all the ‘practice kissing’ they did.  Honestly, he wasn’t sure why Mabel _hadn’t_ realized.

“I… don’t know.  I’m sure they had their reasons.”

“So why didn’t you tell me about it?  You know they were my friends and you didn’t tell me.”

Dipper paused.  “Okay, first, I have to remind you that you are the one who just called Gideon your friend.  Second, it wasn’t really my place to say it.  They are your friends so they should have told you.  Third, I wasn’t really sure that they were keeping it a secret until Gideon asked if you knew, even then it was only an instinct, nothing concrete.”

Turning back from his explanation he saw that his sister had retreated back into her sweater again.  Sighing deeply Dipper gave into the fact that he had just probably made things worse by explaining his side.

“Look.  I’m sure they would have told you if they could.”

“If they _were_ my friends they would have.”

“Sure.  No wait… Mabel, they are your friends.  You can’t just write them off like that.”

“But you have.”

“No, I haven’t.” Dipper clenched his teeth.  “Argh, why are you getting like this over something this small?  Get over it, move on.  In the grand scheme of things this isn’t the most important thing in the world right now.  If you’re really that busted up about it go confront them.  Go talk to Candy and see what she says then talk to Gideon, or something.”

Dipper bit his tongue.  He realized that his tone wasn’t helping Mabel at all, if anything this would only make her angrier.  That was just how his sister worked, when something bad happened she would just become impossible to work with.  He waited for her response, her angry retort.  Yet she gave him none.

“Mabel… I’m sorry.  Look I know this has been another weird summer for you and that it, once again, seems to be coming out better for me than you but I want you to know that I’m here for you.”

Again, nothing.

“Mabel?”  He started to become worried.

Mabel slowly popped her head out of her sweater.  He could see her face, calm in the light.  Her eyes, there was something about her eyes.  They weren’t angry at all, just calm, far calmer than he would expect her to be.

“Are you okay?”  He asked.

“I’m fine.” She replied, her voice smooth and steady.  “You should get going.  Everyone is waiting for you.”

Dipper was concerned, something was wrong and he knew it but didn’t know what.

“Mabel, are you…”

“You should go.” She repeated again.  “They are waiting.”

“But you’re coming with right.”

Mabel shook her head.  Her calm tone creeping Dipper out more.  “No, I’ll stay up here and think.  I need to think.”

Dipper took a deep breath.  There was something definitely wrong with his sister but he didn’t know what.  As much as his instincts told him to stay, he knew he wouldn’t get any further than this right now.  She was, to a degree, right in the fact that they had told him to get changed quickly and meet them in the basement yet… yet this was pulling at him to stay.

“Go.” She said, barely in a whisper.  Dipper couldn’t help but to feel the want to stay fading from his body.  He was worried but that worry abated to the realization that he was holding everyone up.  “Go.” She whispered again and Dipper stood.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Dipper asked her one last time as he quickly changed into his shorts and t-shirt.  “I’ll stay up here if you want and…”

“Go.” She whispered again.

Dipper sighed, giving in.  She wanted to be alone and he could only be a good brother by giving her that.

Shutting the door behind him Dipper made his way to the basement.

 

Dipper quietly slid in as the lights were already dimmed.  The projector, fired up, illuminated the cloth screen where the portal once was.  Mason stopped what he was saying to look to his younger self.

“Is she coming?”  He asked as he cocked an eyebrow.

Dipper shook his head as he took his seat beside Soos.  “She’s… not feeling well.” Dipper lied he took off his hat.

“I see.”  Mason quietly replied.  While he may not know the exact details, Mason was well aware of far more than Dipper was about his sister around this time.  This was something that Dipper would hopefully never have to go through if Mason had his way with it.  So far, they had done well to avoid the fates of their past, this was just another step in correcting _all_ of the mistakes.

Tapping the hastily acquired dais he had set up near the screen Mason prepared himself for the full brevity of his task.  He was about to inform those in front of him of _most_ of the future that he had once lived through.

“Alright.  Due to the… suggestion… of Grunkle Stan I will cut out some of the things that are no longer deemed relevant.  To be honest I intended to give you a full rundown of our past… your future… but I realize that it may not be the same again due to changes already made to your timeline.”

Clicking the remote the projection changed from the blank white to a picture of Gravity Falls, most likely taken for just beyond the edge of town.  The town looked a bit different, there were more business around and everyone noticed that a few of the older buildings had been renovated.

“As you know we come from the future, twelve years to be precise.  However, our story didn’t start then.” 

Clicking the remote the slide changed to a picture of Dipper and Mabel standing in front of the postcard like sign just outside of the entrance to town.  The sign itself looks freshly renovated. 

Mason chuckled a bit at the sight of his younger self.  “We were so innocent back then.” Composing himself he turned back to his crowd.  “Our real story starts six years before we made the fateful choice to journey back in time, in what should have been a summer full of leisure, recreation, and taken ‘er easy.”  His tone dropped.  “Well it was at least for a time.”

Clicking to the next slide everyone was treated to a picture of the shack, larger than it was in this time having expanded outward quite a bit.  Soos and Melody were chasing after someone no one could quite make out as the two made their way around the corner.

Mason smiled again at the slide before realizing he was holding up his lecture.  After faking a cough, he quickly punched through quite a few slides at rapid succession.   While to fast for details they could see a picture of Soos and Melody, again standing with someone they didn’t have time to make out.  One slide that made Dipper blush was left up for a full, very uncomfortable, second was the picture of Dipper standing across from Wendy underneath an arch made of flowers as they held hands and looked into each other’s eyes.  He wasn’t sure but he didn’t really have to be, he knew that Wendy was wearing a wedding dress.

Dipper took a quick glance at Wendy and Pacifica who were sitting next to each other in the row behind him.  Both looked… normal… for what he could tell.  He wasn’t sure as he was having a hard time reading them.  Regardless Dipper knew there would be some uncomfortable questions he or Mason would probably have to answer later.

Finally, the slides landed on one that made the room pause.  The shot was of the town again but this time something was wrong.  It looked like the town had become a warzone.  Buildings were smashed and fires were raging everywhere.  Mason waited as several gasps rang out.  This was the future he hoped to avoid, and now he was here to finally tell them how.

“As you might have guessed,” He took a deep breath, “we… didn’t just come back because we wanted to hang with our younger selves.  We had a reason.”  Mason paused, he closed his eyes as he tightened his grip on the remote.  His memories of the moment flooding back to him like a torrent of muddy water.  “Six years prior to us coming back… something happened.   Do you remember last year when Bill and his demons tried to escape the city but couldn’t?”

Nodding and a few yes responses from his audience. 

“Well that barrier it, what do I even call it?”  He thought a moment.  “It shattered, like a glass dome it shattered into a million pieces.”

He clicked the slide again.  Downtown Gravity Falls, this time infested with demons.

“I don’t know what really caused it but… it was gone.  In a flash the one thing protecting this world was gone.”

Stan clenched his teeth.  He knew what it was.  He had told himself.  It was time to see if what he said was true or if it was just a lie he told himself.  He had planned this out carefully, how he would approach it.  What he held back from Mason, from Ford, just to make himself not look crazy was about to come out but he had to do this carefully to not reveal his deepest secret to Mason.

“Ford.”  He spoke up.

“Yes Stanley?”

“Last year that demon wanted that info from you, didn’t he, how to break the barrier?”

“You remember that?”  Ford looked, his eyes widening.

Stan shook his head. “No, but that’s something you told me he did.  What was the answer?”

Ford hesitated, his eyes flittered as he thought of the consequences of letting anyone know this information.  Looking to his time displaced nephew he realized it would come up at some point.

“Very well.  While the math might be a little complicated for most of you to understand the answer would be a powerful blast of psionic energy.”  Ford tried to quickly play it off.  “But there isn’t anyone around that could do that!”

“That’s right!” Gideon chimed in.  “I could do parlor tricks but that was only because of that amulet!”

Stan waited.  He knew who would speak next, he could see him contemplating what to say.   From his gaze Stan realized Mason knew too.  He quietly heard Mason mumble something about coincidence under his breath.

“That… might not be entirely true.” Sherman spoke up.  All eyes fell upon the oldest of the group as the old man prepared himself.  “There might actually be someone who could have done that.”

“Who?” Ford asked with a sense of urgency in his voice.  Ford knew if there was a person who could they would have to be found immediately and protected.

“Well…”  Sherman clasped his hands tightly and looked down.  “Me.”

“What… What are you talking about?” Ford asked, confused.  “How would you be able to do anything like that?”

“You remember how Ma ran a phone psychic business?”

“You mean how she was a good liar?  Ma was nothing but a scam artist!”

Sherman shot Ford an angry look.  Stan bit his tongue.  For all they knew she _was_ a scam artist but Ford should have known better than to insult Ma in front of Sherman. 

“You take that back!  You have no idea what Ma or I went through with this…  this… curse!”  Sherman clenched his fists.  “You have no idea what it’s like to feel the way we did, experience what we experienced.  By comparison you got off lucky when just having an extra finger and a dumb brother!”

“Hey now!” Stan interjected.  “Insult Ford all you want but leave me out of this!”

“If that’s even true why keep it a secret?” Ford continued.  “We agreed, no more secrets and you’ve already broken that!”

“How was I supposed to explain it!  It barely makes any sense to _me_.”  Sherman stood and began to pace around a bit.  “I want people to act a certain way they start doing it, I want to know something I start to hear it.  It’s not like I have a great amount of control over the thing!”  He raised his fist in the air then let if fall to his side.  “It’s not something I wish on anyone, let alone Ma who had to raise three kids while hearing everything they said, words or not.”

Ford was speechless as Sherman retook his seat. 

“Ford, maybe we should have another conversation after this.”  Stan tried to console his brothers.  “You know, like the one you and I had.”

“No.” Ford replied firmly.  “We have work to do.” He turned back to the screen, and Mason.

“Well then.” Mason said, slightly stunned, as was his audience, at this revelation that there was a bonified psychic in the family.  “I suppose that gives me an idea on how the barrier was broken.  I guess I didn’t put two and two together when the barrier broke at the same time as Grandpa Sherman was coming up to visit with us but it makes sense now.”

Raising his hand to hit the remote again he stopped.  “But what doesn’t make sense is why.”

Stan had to stop himself from interjecting, from telling the real cause of Sherman’s appearance.  Sure, everything that his other self had said had been confirmed, at least up to where Mason’s story had stopped but he wasn’t ready to admit everything just yet.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter in the end as it didn’t take long for the world to fall into chaos and anarchy.  Those who we could save were evacuated into tunnels dug by the gnomes, tunnels that exist under the town in this timeline.”

Clicking the slide, he revealed a picture of ten people.  Mason, Mabel, Pacifica, Gideon, Wendy, Abby, McGucket, Candy, Thompson (who was surprisingly buff), and Tambry.  They were lit by a small lantern in a tunnel they seemed to be hiding in.

“After more than two years were just down to the ten of us.  For a while we actually thought we would be able to make it as is.”  Mason’s gaze lowered. “Even with the losses we took.”  Taking a deep breath, he shook off his gloom and became very serious.  “It was then that we found out the mastermind behind all of this was.”

Without even looking Mason clicked the remote one more time as the room gasped in shock again at the figure presented on the slide.  A figure all but two people in the room recognized immediately.  Stan and Sherman looked at each other with confusion on their faces.

“Who, or what, is that?”  Sherman asked.  “It looks the thing from the back of a dollar.”

“I dunno but I keep getting a weird vibe from it.”  Stan adds.

“That… would be Bill Cipher.”  Mason explained.  “He is the demon currently locked away in your memories Grunkle Stan.”

Stan looked hard at the figure.  It _did_ seem familiar for some reason but he really couldn’t put his finger on why.

“One of our excursions into the overworld we encountered him.” Mason tone grew grim. “He knew exactly where we were but he didn’t stop us.  He only laughed.  He gloated for a while that this had all been his plan from the beginning.”  Mason finally looked up.  “He had planned the downfall of Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford almost eight years prior.”

Stan didn’t say a word.  He knew exactly what happened and the role he had played in it, or at least his other self had.  Ford placed his hand on Stan’s leg, trying to comfort him.

“I’m sorry Stanley, I know this must come as a shock to you but we were apparently gone at this point.”

Stan snapped to as he realized he showed no emotion at the news of his own demise.  Feigning surprise he tried to reply.  “Wow, um, that’s heavy stuff huh?  So we died…”

Mason nodded.  “Prior to you even coming back from your trip at sea.  That was the first fate I changed when I came back.  I took care of the anomaly that would have destroyed you.”

“Thanks… I guess.” Stan rubbed his neck.  He wasn’t really sure how he should react, with the knowledge he had an all.

“Anyway, without the Grunkles using the Zodiac was impossible.   We tried to find another way but the answer kept leading us back to this point.  Two plans were put into action.  One would see us go back in time, and you all know about that one now.  The other one is the most important.”

Clicking the slide Mason revealed the map he had earlier gone over with his other companions.  Each point on the map was now discernable as a point in the zodiac.

“One thing we discovered was that the ancients knew of Bill’s arrival, and of his return.  How, I don’t know, but they did.  They were the ones who created the barrier in Gravity Falls and they are the ones who laid the corner stones of his defeat.”

Clicking the remote again the picture changed to show an obelisk.  Dipper immediately recognized it as the one that he and Mabel had found at the beginning of summer.

“That stone!  Wait, your telling me that stone was important?”  Dipper asked, nearly jumping from his seat.

Mason nodded.  “Correct.  This was actually the Shooting Star stone.  They both power the barrier and are key to Bill’s permanent defeat.  In our timeline we had already lost too many members of the zodiac to utilize them, plus the fact that several had been destroyed…”

Clicking to the next slide Mason revealed another stone, this one in the clearing where the prospectors had set up.

“I know that one!” Pacifica called out.  “That’s the one that Daddy was going to blow up!”

Mason smiled. “Correct!  In my timeline he did just that, costing us our chance to stop Bill.” Looking at the young Pacifica his smile widened. “Yet how convenient that you saved this one.”

“Why?” Pacifica asked.

As he pointed to the top Pacifica barely made out the symbol on the stone.

“No way.”

“Yes way.  You saved the Llama stone.”

“Way to go Pacifica” Wendy held out her arm for a high five.  Pacifica sheepishly took it and sat back down, trying to make herself smaller at the compliment.

“Each and every zodiac piece had a stone that, at one point or another, was created to combat Bill.  Not only that, but thanks to Wendy and her mom we have a greater understanding of what the symbols mean.”

This time it was Wendy’s turn to blush as Ford stood to up to interject.

“What they mean?  Most of them are just symbols.  You don’t take them literal.”

Mason laughed lightly.  “That’s what you would think.  Yet what we’ve learned that’s not the case.  Each symbol has deeper meaning.  Each one has a reason for being what it is.”

Clicking the remote the slide changed to show each of the symbols.

“The Six fingered hand; the oddity that makes one special.  The fish; The leader that shows others the way.  Glasses; The scholar who learns, who teaches.  The Llama; The warrior who never gives in.  The Pentagram; The one who is willing to sacrifice themselves. The question mark; the mystery of humanity. The Mended heart…”  Mason stopped.  “Well that one should be self-explanatory.”

“That’s fine and all but that doesn’t explain the rest.  What are the other three for?”

Mason stilled a moment before answering in a lower tone.  “Well we now know the ice bag was due to Wendy’s ice demon heritage.”

“Her what?”  Ford exclaimed as he looked back at Wendy who quickly looked away.

“Calm down Grunkle Ford.  Wendy’s mom’s cool, literally!”  Dipper tried to help.

“Not the point!  When did a demon enter Gravity Falls!”

“Forty Years ago.” Mason interjected.  Ford snapped back around to look at him. “And she’s been living in seclusion for almost ten of it.”  Cutting Ford’s next comment off Mason interject.  “You can calm down.  She and her mother are harmless, if not completely on our side.  Trust me, I’ve been looking into it.”

“Very well, but I want more details later.”

“Okay, but not till after the everything’s all said and done.”

Ford took his seat again as he waited for Mason to continue.

“The last two, well what I came up for them may be more sentimental than logical so I will leave them out for now but they are for Mabel and myself.” 

Mason clicked a few slides later, of the missing ones were just possible alternative candidates for the zodiac.  Dipper swore he saw Candy and Grenda on one slide.  Finally, the slide landed on an imprint in the stone.  A pair of handprints, both of right hands though. 

“These are the activators.  One of the zodiac members would need to place their hand on the stone and the energy they represent would channel out and activate the trap the ancients laid out for Bill.  The trick is that we need Bill in the right place at the right time.  Thankfully there is something that works incredibly in our favor for that.”

Snapping the slide once more it showed Bill’s stone body, still sitting in the place they had left it after fighting him once more. 

“Currently Bill resides somewhere in Grunkle Stan’s mind, in a place that was sealed off when you erased ‘Stanley Pines’ from Stan’s memory.”

“Wait.”  Ford interrupted. “We didn’t erase Stanley Pines, we erased Bill Cipher.”

“Hmm.” Mason grasped his chin as he thought to himself.  “Different.  However, that shouldn’t change the fact that Bill is still trapped in Stan’s mind.”

Clicking to the next slide there was a small machine set up around one of the stones.

“What we plan to do is release Bill from Grunkle Stan’s mind using this machine.”

“What?  That’s dangerous!  As soon as Stanley remembers him, he’ll possess him again!”

“Correct, that’s why the machine we created does two things, removes the memory blocks and expunges Bill from Stan’s mind.  Bill will be back in his astral form once again and once that happens there will be a single thought on his mind.”   Mason clicked back to the picture of Bill’s body.  “He’ll try to recover his body, but that’s exactly where we want him.”

Mason clicked forward a few slides to another map of the town showing the locations of the stones.

“Bill’s body is actually near perfectly centered between the stones, which means that if we activate the at exactly that time, we’ll have him.  Bill will be gone for good and Gravity Falls will be safe.”  Putting the remote down Mason mellowed from the excitement of finally trapping Bill for good.  “Then we can get to more pressing issues.” He added as he looked to his younger self.

“What do you mean by that Dipper… err Mason.” Soos asked.

“Well, there are a few loose ends we want to take care of, things that we needed a second chance for.  Nothing too important mind you but…  things we want to make sure don’t happen again.”

Taking a deep breath Mason picked up the remote and hit the button again, finally to the blank slide at the end of the set.  The projector turned off and Melody hit the lights.  Mason waited for everyone’s eyes to adjust before continuing.

“Are there any questions?” 

Soos threw up his hand.   “So, what do you need from us again?”  Soos chuckled.  “Sorry dude, it was a bit much for me all at once.”

Mason sighed.  “Fine, I’ll give you the short version.  I need everyone that can be part of the zodiac to help with this.  Fiddleford and I, plus my older companions will take care of the parts we can but since we aren’t a full zodiac, we needed your help.”

Soos nodded. “Right, I think I’ve got it now.”   Melody looked at him and rolled her eyes.

“Are there any further questions?”

“Just one.” Ford stood up. “What happens if this doesn’t work.  What happens if this doesn’t stop Bill but enhances him, or something else goes wrong?”

“It won’t.  But none the less if there is a problem both the shack and the manor have barriers around them so we can retreat and regroup there.  There is no way we can allow this to fail, but even then, don’t think we haven’t taken some precautions.”

Ford shifted uneasily.  Mason was a gambler and this was probably the biggest gamble he could make.  Errant portals are one thing but risking the wrath of Bill Cipher, now that was crazy.

 

With no further question everyone started to gather their things.  Mason explained that the operation would begin in a couple of hours once he picked up his companions from the mansion.  Until then he gave everyone the order to relax and enjoy the day.

For Dipper though this was a chance to confront Mabel and see what was really wrong with her.  He rushed up the elevator as soon as it was free and dashed up the stairs to their bedroom.  With any luck he could resolve Mabel’s issue and they could have a nice relaxing remainder of the summer.

Tapping the door Dipper called out to his sister to see if she was decent.  Hearing no reply, he opened the door to find the room empty.  Dipper immediately noticed something out of the ordinary though, a letter on his bed.  Grabbing the letter and unfolding it he immediately recognized his sisters handwriting.

“Dipper, by the time you read this I’ll have left the shack.  I don’t know how to explain it but something feels going on, something more than usual.  This is bigger than the Candy and Gideon thing but I don’t know how to explain it.  I’ve gone to the one place that I can get answers.  It’s a safe place so don’t come looking for me.  I’ll return once I know what’s going on.  Signed, Mabel.”

Dipper finished reading the letter out loud he set it down the bed.  Place where she could get answers?  Something else was wrong?  What was wrong, why didn’t she want to confide in him?  This was so unlike his sister.  He felt his chest tense when he thought of the fact that she chose to go somewhere else instead of let him help.  Reading over the letter again Dipper had no idea where she could have gone. 

He worried for his sister.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Mabel landed with a _thud_ as she fell from the window she had climbed through.  “Ow ow ow ow ow.” She rubbed her head as she righted herself.  “Maybe I shouldn’t have use the highest one I could find.”  As she stood, she took a quick look around the room.    She must have ended up in a library with all the books laying around.  “Right! Infiltration accomplished.  Agent Mabel is on the case!”

Mabel had left the shack around a half hour ago and the trip here had been quiet.  She had a lot to think about so that wasn’t a bad thing.  With everything that had happened recently it was getting to be a bit overwhelming.  First, she finds out about Gideon and Candy, and now… this…

Quietly slipping to the doorway she cracked it open.  The hallway was darkened, well darkened for a midday hallway with lots of open windows that is.  Checking both sides, she nodded to herself.  “Alright, gotta be stealthy.  Can’t let anyone know I’m here.”  She pumped her fist with determination.

Slipping out into the hallway she tried to quietly shut the door when it suddenly squeaked very loudly.  Panicking she slammed it shut to make it stop and cringed as she realizes she probably just alerted everyone to her presence.  Waiting a moment in silence Mabel took a deep breath.

“Jeez, just how big _is_ this place.”  She mused. “I figured everyone would have heard that.”  She shrugged as resigned herself to the fact that she was maintaining stealth mode still.

Tiptoeing as long as her tiptoes would let her, then walking because tiptoeing hurts after a while, Mabel made her way down one of the long hallways.  And then another, and then another.  She stopped at every door she could, cracking them open to see what was inside, disappointed each time that she couldn’t find what she was looking for.

“Ugh, this house is too big!”  she groaned.  “Seriously, did you need this many rooms?  I could have made do with just the first five.”  Looking around at the cross in the hallway she came to the conclusion that if she ever got this much money, she would buy a small cabin in the woods and live her life out that way instead of… well this.  “Then again, I guess I probably shouldn’t have started on the second floor. Nobody’s probably living up here anymore. 

After a few more minute of searching Mabel finally came upon a stairwell down.  “Yea, forget this, I’m going downstairs.”  A quick jaunt down the stairs and Mabel was now in the well-lit hallways of the first floor.

“Okay, now if it were me where would it be.”  She thought to herself for a moment.  As she did, she picked up a sound coming from one of the doors that was slightly ajar.  Creeping up to it she took a peek through the opening.  “Gideon?” She quietly mumbled.

It was indeed Gideon, in one of the many parlors the mansion had.  He seemed to be sitting at a table playing chess… with himself.  His eyepatch flipped up Mabel could make up and odd coloring of his left eye.  As he moved a piece on the board he spoke to himself.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”  His hand paused in midair, the piece suspended just over the board.  “Think about it.”  He sat motionless for a moment before slamming the piece on the board.  Gideon laughed as he picked another piece, this time of the opposing color, and moved it.  “Three hundred games and you’re still making the same rookie mistakes.  Check and mate.”

Slamming his other hand on the table Gideon only laughed harder. Mabel watched as his oddly colored eye faded, almost becoming white, along with Gideon’s smile.  “Aw come on, you’re such a sore loser.  Fine but don’t blame me if I act the same when _you_ win.” Gideon replaced his eyepatch and started to reset the board.

“What the blah?”  Mabel asked herself.  “What the heck did I just see.”  Figuring somewhere between now and twelve years in the future Gideon must lose his mind she pitied Candy for wanting to date him.  “I really don’t see what you do Candy, I really don’t.”

Deciding haste was needed, seeing as Gideon could come her way once he was done resetting the nerd board, Mabel made herself scarce.  Still attempting to sneak, with no ability to actually do so considering, she made her way along the main hallway.  Stopping just before the kitchen she could hear voices coming from within.

“So how do you think their date went?”  She could make out the voice.  It sounded like Dee, the older Wendy, talking to someone in the kitchen.

“What?  How should I know?” The response was a definite Paz, or the older Pacifica.  She seemed to scoff at the thought.  “I don’t keep track of them.”

“Really?  You’re not the least bit curious?  Sherman told us they had a date last night and you’re telling me you don’t want to know all the juicy details about it?”

Mabel peeked in through the open passageway.  The two were leaning against the island counter with Wendy drinking something from a mug while Pacifica stood by the stove, waiting for the kettle, or so it looked like.  Mabel nearly left when her own stomach began to grown.

“Shoot,” She quietly whispered to herself, “I forgot to get breakfast.”  Looking around she saw several sets of breakfast bars sitting just behind the girls on the counter.  “If I could just sneak in there and snag one of those…”

Mabel was confident in her stealth skills.  After all she had stolen some of Dipper’s popcorn last night and he hadn’t noticed.  This should be a piece of cake.  Slowly slipping in she steadily made her way to the island.

“And why would I be?  It’s not like I have feelings for the guy.”

“Well yea, of course you don’t for that one.  I know you still have feelings for Mason though, you said it yourself.”

“I said nothing of the sort.  I just said that I _had_ feelings for him, at one point, in the past, when we were young.”

Mabel reached up from below the counter to try to grab one of the bars.  No luck.  If she reached further she would have to expose herself and the bars are just a hair too far.  Maybe if there was something to extend her grasp.

Wendy laughed.  “Oh really, so you’re saying, your feelings aside, that you’re not curious how it could have gone if the shoe was on the other foot and I was the third wheel?”

Just a little further…

“Well, I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to find out, I guess.  After all, we do have to look out for our _younger selves_.”  Her tone shifted for a second.

“What?  Oh, uh.  Yeah we do.” 

Mabel finally felt her fingers barely grasp one of the bars.  Quickly grabbing it she ducked under the counter.

“So, you going to ask her then?” Dee asked.

“Umm.” Paz pondered. “Maybe after the second date, you know, once things get good.”

“Oh yea, they always get good on the second date.” Dee replied with a knowing tone.

Mabel cringed.  She really didn’t want to hear this anymore.  She wasn’t sure how anyone could feel like that about her brother but she wanted out of this conversation fast.  Quickly but quietly she scurried out of the room and down the hallway as the tea kettle began to squeal.

“What was that about?” Dee asked.

Paz shrugged as she took the kettle off the stove.  “I have no idea.  I didn’t understand her then and I don’t understand her now. That girl is a mystery.”

 

Disposing of the wrapper in the nearest receptacle, which just so happened to be an empty potted plant, Mabel was now recharged and ready to find her target.  Unfortunately for her though she was no closer to finding it and she knew she was running out of time.  She figured she had already searched half the house, or so it felt like, but nothing gave her any idea of where it was.

Reaching a T shaped hallway, she took a look down the center.  The hallway was darker there, the lights were off and the windows drawn.  She could make out a single doorway down that hall, and… was that a fist imprinted into one of the walls?  “Nope, not going that way.” Mabel declared.  “No way what I’m looking for is down there.”

Deciding to go straight ahead instead she stopped when she heard a voice coming from down her chosen path.

“If I just adjust the convolutely factor by ten it should produce a much higher outcome than prior tests.”  Ugh, nerd speak.  Since Mabel already knew Mason and Grunkle Ford were at the shack, and her brother was there too, she knew there was exactly one other person who would even think to talk like this.  “I reckon that’ll have to do for now.”

Hearing Fiddleford before she could see him was a blessing but Mabel quickly realized this way was cut off.  He was approaching from down that hallway so her only option was to return the way she came and find a room to hide in until he passed. 

Unfortunately for her there was a new problem.  

“So how did your game go?”  She could her Paz’s voice coming from behind her, approaching.

“He’s barely gotten any better since when we first bound him.  I think he’s given up on beating me at chess.”  She could hear Giddy too.

This was bad.  She was trapped between a rock and hard place with no where left to go… or was she?  Deciding discretion was the better part of valor Mabel ducked down the darken corridor.  Realizing there was no place to hide behind the only option open to her was the room at the end of the hallway.

 

Flipping the door open she quickly dove in, letting the door close behind her.  “Phew!” She breathed in as she realized she had made it just in time.  She could hear them walking past, a quick greeting between the three and then footsteps away.  She waited and listened, making sure they were gone.  “That was a close one.”

Looking away from the door she realized the room she was in was very dark too.  She could see the small flickering lights of some machines near the center of the room.  As her eyes adjusted, she noticed that it was some weird stands of things sitting around a bed.  The gentle hum was almost soothing to her.

That’s when she noticed something move on the bed.  A figure turned over under the covers, possibly to face her, she really couldn’t tell with the lack of light. 

“Hello?” A wispy voice called out.  “Who’s there?”

“No way…” Mabel exclaimed quietly.

“Is that you Mason?” The voice asked.  “Is it time to go already?”

Walking slowly to the bed Mabel placed her hand on one of the stands.  The figure sat up and rubbed their eyes as they tried to get a better look at their visitor.

“You’re not Mason.  Abby, is that you?”

“Mabel?” Mabel asked the person in disbelief.  “Is that really me?”

“Me?  Wait…”  Reaching over the figure hit a lamp on the night stand allowing the room to be filled with what little light it offered.  “Mabel?”

There she was, standing just a few feet away from her older self, the one she had been looking for all day.  The two just stared at each other in disbelief for a while before the younger Mabel spoke up.

“Why are you in the dark like this?”  She asked exuberantly.  “Why weren’t you out there having fun like the rest of them?”

“What? Why are you here?”

“Pft, to see you silly.” Mabel ran over to the windows and threw open the shades to let in more light.  “Dipper gets to hang out with Mason so I said why don’t I get to hang out with me?”

The older Mabel winced at the sudden change in the atmosphere.  Her normally dark and dreary room was now being filled by the midday sun.  Her eyes adjusting, she took in her younger self, still so full of life like the bright shooting star she used to be.

“Well you saw me, now what?” 

“Hmm…” Mabel thought a moment.  Getting an idea, she ran over and jumped on the bed.  “I know! How about we talk about our lives!”  She exclaimed, crawling in real close to her older self.

The older Mabel pushed her back a little.  “Personal space, please.”  Mabel pouted as she crawled around to sit on the pillows next to herself.  “I meant… never mind.”

“So, should I start? I think I should start.” Mabel cheerfully began.  “It all started last year when our parents told us that they were shipping us off to the town of Gravity Falls…”

“Mabel…”

“We had all sorts of adventures and even met our long lost Grunkle Ford…”

“Mabel.”

“I even made a few friends along the way when…”

“MABEL!” The elder Mabel shouted, grabbing the younger's attention. 

“What?”

The older Mabel shook her head. “No wonder Mason was always shouting like that at me.”  Sighing she looked her confused younger self.  “You know I was there for all that too?”

“Oh, right.  My bad I just thought I would start with my story and then let you finish it.”

The older Mabel shifted in the bed, getting a more comfortable position.  Smiling weakly, she patted her younger self on the head.  “Mabel, what’s this really about.” 

The younger Mabel’s smile faded, her gaze averting from her older self.  “I just… didn’t get to see you at all, that’s it.”

“Mabel…”  She tried to coax the truth out of her younger self.  Know her, that wasn’t going to be the easiest task in the world.

“Fine, I’m scared alright?”  Mabel moved over to the other side of the bed so she could look into her older selves’ eyes.  “A lot’s been happening and I… I just don’t know.”

“So, you came to me for answers.”

“Yup!” Mabel’s smile slowly returned.  “Figure I’d have the answers to my questions!”

It was the elder Mabel’s turn to look away.  “I’m not sure you’d like the answers to your questions.  Not from me at least.”

“What?  Come on, that can’t be true.”

The older Mabel sighed.  “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Ask away.”

“Okay!  Umm…”  She thought about it.  What did she really want to ask?  She had so much on her mind, with Candy and Gideon, her brother.  ‘Oh,’ she thought, ‘maybe I should ask about my future boyfriends!’  Giggling to herself she watched her older self shake her head.

“Any time now.”

“Okay, okay, hold your horses.  It’s not like you’re going anywhere.”

“Actually I am.  Mason’s coming later and we’re leaving.”

“Oh?  I didn’t know that!”

“I take it you didn’t listen to his lecture today did you.”

Mabel looked away embarrassed. “I… had a lot on my mind.  I decided to come here instead.”

“Well you’re here and you’re about to ask me a question.  What is it?”

Deciding to start from the beginning she asked her first question.  “In your time did Candy and Gideon date?”

The older Mabel was taken back by this.  That wasn’t really the question she expected her to ask but then again, she was always unpredictable in her youth.  She thought on the best response before answering.

“The did… but they had broken up by the time we came back to the Falls six years ago.”  She cocked her head.  “Why ask about that?”

Mabel tensed up a bit.  “Did they ever tell you they were dating?”

“I… well no, they didn’t.  I found out from Grenda after we came back.  I think Candy just wanted to protect me or something considering my relationship with Gideon in the past.”

“Relationship?  You actually dated him?”

The older Mabel giggled.  “Well yea, so did you.  Remember those dates when we first met him.  They don’t mean much but they technically counted.”

“I mean, I guess they do.”

“I take it they didn’t tell you?”

Mabel shifted at the end of the bed again, her gaze not quite meeting her future self’s.  “No.  I just found out yesterday when I caught them on a date in the park.”

“I see.” The older Mabel gaze fell.  “I’m sorry you had to find out that way.”

“It’s okay, I guess.  I was really angry about it this morning but, sure enough, Dipper was right, again.  I just need to talk to them about it.  I’m sure Candy had a reason for hiding it.”

“Tch.” The elder clicked her teeth.  “Mason’s not always right.”

“Well duh, he just does nerd stuff that makes him smart but he’s definitely not always right.  Just this year he thought a cougar was a jaguar…”

“That wasn’t what I meant.”  Mabel watched as her older self grasped the covers tightly in her palms.  “He’s wrong about a lot!”

Mabel’s eyes narrowed.

“Like high school.  How can you call that fun?  It was a nightmare, no thanks to him.”

“What chu talking bout?  I _know_ we had fun in high school.” Mabel shrugged.  “Sure, Wendy told us that it isn’t _all_ fun and games but I’m sure we made a bunch of friends and had a blast in all of our classes.”

“Friends?  We didn’t have any friends.”

“What about everyone from Middle School?”

The older Mabel laughed, not a happy one but the sad sort of laugh you do when someone is ignorant of the truth.  “You don’t know about this yet but the districts got redrawn, we go to a totally different school than they do.”

“But we make new friends then right?”

“Oh yea, lots of ‘friends’” She made air quotes with her fingers. “If by friends you mean people who like to make fun of us.”

“No… but why?”

“The very same reason that Mason made lots of friends.  Because we were weird and he was normal.”

“Okay, that makes no sense.  Dipper’s the weird one.  Were the normal one!”

“Are we?”  The older Mabel sighed.  “I guess it hasn’t happened to you yet, has it.”

“What’s happened?”

“It’s hard to explain.”  She looked to the stands sitting beside her bed, then back to Mabel. “Something changes in us.  I started… I started to hear voices.  Like people were talking when they weren’t.  I could hear what people were saying even if they didn’t want me to.”

“So, our hearing got better?  Was it, like a supernatural thing or something?”

She shook her head.  “No, it was a mental thing.  I think they call it schizophrenia, or at least that’s what Mason told me it was.”

Mabel cocked her head.  “Whadda mean, he told you?”

“Well, it wasn’t like our parents didn’t love us but it almost seemed like they didn’t care.  Mom just told me that it was part of growing up and that I should just stop having an overactive imagination and dad… dad didn’t believe me.”

The elder Mabel buried her head in her knees and the younger Mabel shifted.

“Mason… at least he believed me a little.  He thought I needed to see a doctor, and as time went on, he kept arguing with our parents about it but they wouldn’t have it.  The voices and everything else made high school horrible.  I was an outcast.  “Scary Mabel” they called me.  Even Mason kept his distance after a while.”

“No way! Dipper would never do that.”

“Mason isn’t Dipper!” She shouted. Looking back up she saw Mabel pulling back.  Reaching out she tried to calm her younger self.  “I’m sorry… I just…  It was different okay.  Mason is who he is now, and Dipper’s probably not the same but…”

“But what?”

Looking away Mabel considered how she would tell her younger self what she learned.  If nothing else she deserved to know the truth since she came this far.

“A vacation wasn’t the only reason we came to Gravity Falls six years ago.”

Mabel cocked her head in curiosity.

“I… found out the real reason we came.  Mason was nice enough to take a year off of college to help take care of me, to be with me, but he couldn’t put it off anymore.  He had been accepted into West Coast Tech on scholarship so he couldn’t keep putting it off.”

“And?  So, what if he goes to a stuffy old school.”

“Mason knew that if he went to this school, he couldn’t care for me anymore, and our parents certainly weren’t either.  They pushed the both of us to get jobs and move out of the house and become adults but… it wasn’t easy when things were happening around you like they were for me.”

Mabel looked to the stands again, just briefly.

“So, he proposed we take a summer vacation up in Gravity Falls and connect with some old friends, but…”

“But what?”

“That wasn’t the real plan.  I could hear what he was really saying.  He wanted to leave me up there so that he could go off to college.  He _thought_ it would be what I wanted, to be around every one again.  He thought a lot of things that summer…”

“Dipper was going to leave me here?”

“Yup, he was going to pawn me off on Candy and Grenda.  He told them I needed help, that I needed to see doctors.  To bad for him the world ended first.”

“What!”  Mabel shouted, surprised.

“Yup, the world burned a pretty red the day Bill returned.  The flames took everything we had here in the town in just an instant.”

“But everyone was okay right?  You beat Bill again!”

“Mabel, why do you think we came back in time in the first place?  Mason wanted to abandon me but Bill got us first.”

Mabel stared of blankly in to space, processing what her older self said.

“It got even worse as we fought for our lives.  I had to watch as… as…”

Tears welled up in her eyes and the memories of her lost companions flooded back.

“First, they got Soos and Melody, then Candy sacrificed her self so we could make it!”  The tears streaked down her cheeks.  “I watched as my best friends gave their lives so we could live just a little longer in that hell hole and for what?  So Mason could go back and fix it?  Once he does, I be he’ll just leave me here again.”

She pointed to the stands.  “These stupid things are supposed to help ‘center me’ yet all they do is give me headaches to the point that I have to have the lights off.  Little good any of this does.” 

“I… I never knew.” The younger Mabel reached out to try to comfort her older self but the elder Mabel just brushed her away.

“Listen Mabel.  Don’t become like me.  I don’t know what would happen if you start hearing voices too but don’t ever let anyone know you do or it will ruin you.  And whatever you do, don’t ever let your friends go.”  Her speech finished the elder Mabel started to calm down.  “Now, you better get out of here before my brother catches you.  I know he hangs out with Dipper sometimes but he warned us of telling ourselves too much about the future and I think you know I just have.”

Mabel nodded.  “Are you sure you’re going to be all right.”

The elder Mabel moved to get comfortable again.  “I’ll be fine, we’ll be fine.  Just… stay the happy girl with lots of friends I remember I was.”

“Okay.” Mabel gave a weak smile.

Shutting the door behind her she leaned back, letting herself rest against it.  Mabel had figured she must have been sick or something, having not seen much of herself this year, but this was beyond anything she could have anticipated. 

Her brother betrays her, he friends abandon her, and her life goes down the gutter?  Why was she the one who got this news.  It wasn’t fair.  Her life should be fun and exciting and lead to all sorts of adventures with boys and such, not be filled with stuff you find in horror films.

Mabel resolved herself at that very moment.  She would have to change her fate.  If it took a million years, she would do whatever it took to make sure that what her older self had said never comes to be. 

Escaping from the Manor took only a few minutes.  The route that Mabel had come in from was easier to get through the second time, other than the rose bushes she fell into on the way out of the second story window.   Quickly heading to the bus stop Mabel’s phone began to ring.

“Hello?”  She answered it, unsure of who’s number it was.

“Is this Fraulein Mabel?”  The voice asked on the other end.  The accent was thick, yet she recognized it from somewhere.  “It is I, Marius von Fundshauser.”

“Marius?  Is Grenda with you?”

“Ya, she is with me but unable to talk at the moment.  Fraulein Mabel, we would ask that you do us a quick favor.  We are currently just out side of town and are in need of your assistance.  Would you mind meeting us here schnell?”

“I don’t know what that means but I’ll head out there right now!”

“Bitte.  We await your saving grace.”  The line went dead.

Quickly putting her phone away Mabel watched for the bus approach. “Okay Mabel, this is your chance.  Show your friends that you’re the best and they’ll never want to leave you!”  She pumped her fist, ready to go, as the bus approached.  “You can do this Mabel!”

  

 

* * *

 

 

“That what my wife told me every night before bed!”  The person on the TV replied.  The crowd broke into laughter at the response and Sherman chuckled a bit from the recliner.

Dipper sighed as he looked out the window.  It had been more than an hour since everyone left to go help Mason.  The only people left in the Shack were himself, Grandpa Sherman, and Melody, who had decided she needed a nap.

“What’s the matter Dipper?” Sherman asked as he watched his grandson stare out of the window.  “You sound like somethings bothering you.”

Dipper turned around, as he did he pulled out his phone and checked it.  No missed calls, no texts either.  Replacing his phone is his pocket he walked over to his Grandpa who had decided to pass the time watching old game shows on TV.

“Alright kiddo, spill it.  What’s got you bothered?”

Dipper took a seat on the old skull they used as a coffee table and looked up at his Grandpa.  “It’s Mabel.  She’s been missing since this morning and I’m worried about her.”

“Missing huh?  Think she got kidnapped by gnomes or something?  We ought to go gather a search party then.”

Dipper waved him off as he started to rise. “No, no, it’s not like that.  She left on her own, its just…” Dipper sighed again.  “Something was really bothering her this morning and I feel like I screwed it all up and made it worse.”

Sherman thought about it for a second.  Think of the events of last night he was able to glean a good idea what was wrong.  “Look, Mabel’s just going through a rough patch.  I’m sure if you give her time she’ll come around.”

“Yeah but what if she doesn’t?”

“Hmm?”

“Mabel was really upset about Candy and Gideon not telling her the truth but there seemed to be more to it.  It was like she was a different person than the Mabel I know.”

Sherman patted Dipper on the head.  “I know you’re just being a good brother to be concerned about her but she’ll be fine.  I’ve got a good feeling that whatever’s happening to her right now will blow over and she’ll be a better Mabel for it.”

“You think so?  Is that your powers telling you that?”

Sherman laughed.  “Sure, but it’s the power of being a Grandpa, not any mind mumbo jumbo.”

Dipper smiled.  That put his mind at ease.  Maybe Grandpa Sherman was right.  Wherever Mabel went maybe it helped her calm down.

“Thanks Grandpa Sherman.”  Dipper said as he got up from the table.

“My pleasure.  Now how about you and I enjoy these lovely gameshows until every gets… gets…”

Sherman’s eyes narrowed.  He quickly got up from his chair and looked around like there was something there.

“What is it?  What the matter?”

This was a feeling Sherman had felt before, it was washing over him like a flood of muddy water.  He grabbed his chest tightly as his body started to feel the pain.  “Dipper, get back.”  He threw up an arm to push his grandson away. 

Dipper stepped back as he watched his grandfather fall to his knees, clutching his chest.  Dipper wasn’t sure what was going on but it sure looked bad.

“Are you okay?  Grandpa Sherman!  What’s happening?”   Unsure of what to do only one thought crossed his mind.  He needed to get help.  Bolting for the hallway there was only one person he knew who might be able to help.

Sherman saw Dipper leave out of the corner of his eye.  He knew what this looked like, what Dipper might think was happening but he was wrong.  Sherman closed his eyes and let the feeling wash over him.  This was going to happen and he had to accept it.

The pain faded before Dipper returned but the experience wasn’t over.  It sounded like their voices were distant as Melody and Dipper called out to him but no matter.  This was happening right now and he had to see it to its completion.

The only thought that went through his head was of his wife.  How many years had it been since he saw her, since he had the chance to hold her hand?  He was reminded of the moment that this first occurred, in the airport just before they got off the plane.  It wasn’t like he could do anything about it then either, things just happened this way. 

He played it off then too, as he would do now.  But what was it all about?  His mind became clearer.  He was about to see it again.

Sherman’s eyes shot open as he looked at his grandson and Melody in a state of pure panic.  With the strength of a man unbecoming of his age Sherman jumped up, startling the two.

“Grandpa Sherman!”

“Mr. Pines, are you all right?  I think you’ve just had a heart attack.” Melody got to her feet.  “I’ll go call 911, you guys stay here.”

“Stop!”  Sherman called out as Melody grabbed the phone.  “That wasn’t a heart attack.”

The two looked to each other, then back at Sherman. The panic still visible on his face as his eyes darted to and fro, Sherman did not look like he was calming down.  Finally fixating on something he stared into the distance for a long time.

“What’s happening?” Melody asked, unsure of how to proceed.

Dipper could only shrug as he watched his grandfather stand perfectly still.  It was a long time before any of them moved.  Finally, Sherman’s eyes narrowed then opened wide.  He turned to Dipper and Melody as all of the blood drained from his face.

“Oh no…”  He whispered as he looked to them.  “We have to stop her!”  Sherman quickly flipped around, running over to the table where he kept his keys and grabbed them.

“What? Stop who?”  Dipper asked as he followed Sherman to the door.  “Grandpa Sherman wait!”

Sherman stopped just inches from the door, hand already out to fling it open.

“Dipper, there’s no time.  We have to go now if we have any chance of stopping her!”

“What are you talking about?”  Dipper exclaimed as he grabbed his jacket.

“Melody, stay here where it’s safe.  Dipper and I will go out and stop her.”

Melody could only nod.  She still didn’t understand what was going on.  Today had been a bit overwhelming for her, time travel none withstanding, this was just the icing on the cake.

Flinging open the door Sherman ran to he car as Dipper followed.  Not even giving it a second thought Sherman started the engine and threw it in to gear as Dipper struggled to put on his seat belt.

“Grandpa Sherman calm down.”  Dipper finally got the belt in as they hit a bump, hard.

Sherman bounced up in his seat, quickly reaching over and grabbing his own belt and fastening it with one hand.  Dipper could see, even down the country road to the shack, Sherman was speeding.  Dipper’s concern grew from his grandfather, he’d never seen him like this.

Hitting the road Sherman slid the car into the lane, nearly knocking another car off the road before he hit the accelerator and pushed the older vehicle even faster.

“Grandpa Sherman?” Dipper tried again.  No response.  Grandpa Sherman was driving like a mad man with a purpose and he Dipper could tell it was taking all of his concentration to keep on the road at this speed.  It was at that point Dipper realized he wouldn’t get his answer till they got there.

 

Mabel hopped off the commuter bus that took her to the stop right at the edge of town.  This was the place they had boarded last year when they went home.  For some weird reason the busses to Gravity Falls went all the way to the town but the ones go back never seemed to start any closer than here.

A quick look around gave her no indication of anyone else waiting at the bus stop.  Checking her phone again she thought about the request. “Just out of town.”  She remarked.  “Hmm… Their car must have broken down or something.”

Deciding they must have been further up the road she started to walk along the edge.  No sooner did she round the bend did the Gravity Falls postcard sign come into view, along with a figure standing beneath it.

Mabel sprinted toward the sign, waving at the figure, who waved back.   Reaching a more comfortable distance she could make out Marius just below the sign.  “He still dresses funny.” Mabel quipped to herself as she approached.  Indeed, Marius was in attire befitting his status.  Fancy silk clothing and even sunglasses that looked like they would have cost Mabel her entire allowance for a year if she even wanted to try them on.

“Fraulein Mabel.  It is good to see you!” Marius smiled as she approached.  Mabel stopped just short of Marius and looked around.  “Is there something the matter?”

Mabel shook her head. “No, I just thought Grenda would be with you.”

Marius laughed.  “Oh, I’m sure she’s hanging around here somewhere.”

“Okay.” Mabel shrugged.  “So… What did you guys need help with?”

Marius pouted, or at least it looked like he was pouting, as he responded.  “You see, I’m having a bit of trouble getting into the town.  I can’t just walk in you see.”

“Oh… did you lose your wallet or something?  I’ve done that before.  It’s okay, I can pay for the bus ride in.”

“Well, it’s not quite like that.  You see I need your help to walk in.”

Mabel turned around.  The road was right there, clear as day.  Nothing she could think of was stopping him.

“Okay…” She flipped back around to him, confused.  “What’s stopping you?”

“Well you see Mabel there is this barrier like thing around Gravity Falls and it’s preventing me from coming into the town so I need your help to make a teeny tiny hole in the barrier long enough for me to get in.”

“Okay!”  She cheered, the stopped.  “How do we do that?”

“Oh that’s easy, you’re going to open that hole.”

“And how do I do that?”  Mabel cocked her head.  Marius adjusted his shades, pushing them up on his brow.

“I can teach you how but you’ve got to trust me on something first.  I need to be able to possess your body for a minute in order to do it.”

“Whaaaa… You have powers like that?  Why did nobody ever tell me?”

“Well, let’s just say these only came to me recently.  How about this, if you help me out, I’ll teach you how to use these powers so you can prank your brother!  How about it Mabel, do we have a deal?”

“Well… possessing Dipper sounds fun and all but I don’t know.”  Mabel giggled.  “Aw what the heck I’ll help you out!”

Marius’ smile got even wider as he held out his hand for Mabel to take.  Mabel reached out, nearly taking his hand before she stopped.  Pulling back, she looked curiously at Marius.

“You know, on second thought something doesn’t feel right about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.  Something feels off.  Making deals, possession, that sickly way you’re smiling.  It just doesn’t feel right.”

“But Mabel, aren’t I your friend?”

“Well I mean, you are my friends’ boyfriend but…”

“Come on Mabel, just for a little while.”  Marius reached his hand out further.

Mabel pulled back.  “No!  This is weird.  Something not right with you!”

Marius sighed as he rubbed his head.  “Well I wanted to avoid this but you leave me with no choice.  You know how you asked where Grenda was?”

Mabel’s eyes narrowed as she watched Marius walk around the corner.  Coming back he pulled Grenda, bound and gagged, with him.  Throwing her to her knees in front of him he pulled out a small dagger he was holding.

“Grenda!” Mabel shouted as Marius held the dagger up to her neck.

“Muh Mubh” Grenda tried to speak through the gag.

“Now, if you had done what I wanted I wouldn’t have to resort to this kind of threat.  Oh well, guess I saw this coming though.”  Marius’ wicked grin widened again.

“You… you monster!” Mabel picked up a rock and threw it at Marius hitting him squarely in the head. 

He turned to the side due to the impact, his smile only growing.  “Now now, that’s not the way this goes.”  Turning back the glasses cracked and fell off his face revealing a sight that shocked Mabel.  Marius’ pupils were slit like and his eyes colored a sickly yellow.  “But I guess I couldn’t just fool your twice now, could I?

“Bill!” Mabel shouted as she watched Marius clumsily handle the dagger around her friend’s neck.

“It’s been a while Shooting Star.”  Marius replied as he removed the last of the glass’s debris from his face.  “I see you haven’t changed at all since then.”

“What have you done to Grenda and Marius!”  She picked up another rock and cocked her arm back, ready to throw it.

“Uh-uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.  You might just hurt this meat bag and who knows, my hand could slip…” He waved the dagger ever closer to Grenda’s throat.

Mabel knew her only option was to back down.  She couldn’t risk anything happening to Grenda.  Letting her arm down she let the rock fall back to the ground.  “Okay Bill, you win.”

“Woah, that was easier than even I foresaw.  Okay Shooting Star, you really are the smarter of the twins.  Pine Tree would have fought me to the bitter end but you’re intelligent enough to know when you’re beat.”

Mabel growled as she looked away.  “Don’t rub it in.  Just tell me what you want!”

“Silly girl, I already did!  I just want to use you to break open a hole in this stupid barrier.”  He knocked just in front of him and the barrier shimmered briefly.  “I need someone special to do it and you’re just the person for the job.”

She scowled at him as she snapped back. “Oh yea? What makes you think I’m the one to do it?  I’m just an ordinary girl!”

Bill laughed, the sickening laugh that made Mabel’s skin crawl, the very laugh she had heard so many times last year and hated every moment of it.  “Oh Shooting Star, I’ve been watching you for a while now.  I now _all_ of your secrets, about what you really are.  You might not acknowledge it but you’re far from normal.”

Mabel tried hard to figure out what he meant by that as he continued.  “But what you are doesn’t really matter right now, I need your body and you want your friend back.  So… you keep your friend and I get to use your body for just a teensy tiny amount of time.  So, what do ya say?  Do we have a deal?

Marius reached out with his hand again as Mabel looked at Grenda, then back at Marius.  This was life or death and she knew it.  She knew Bill would have no trouble just ending her friend’s life right there in front of her.  She looked deep into Grenda’s eyes as she thought about what she had to do.

No… She already knew what must be done.  Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she looked back into Marius’ wicked eyes.  “Fine.  I’ll trade a few seconds in my body if you let Grenda and Marius go.”

Marius’ smirk widened again.  “It’s a deal and I never go back on my deals!”

Mabel reached out to take Marius’ hand.  She could see the blue flames start to flicker off of his fingers.  Just inches from his grasp she stopped as a voice called out to her.

“MABEL DON’T!”  She turned to see her brother and grandfather running at her from down the road.  Sherman shouted at her to stop.  “DON’T TAKE HIS HAND!”

Sherman stopped just a few feet away as he tried to catch his breath.  Marius adjusted himself so that the two newcomers could see the situation a little better.  Dipper looked at his sister, the to Marius.  He squinted as he tried to figure out what bugged him about Marius, eyes widening as he figured it out.

“Bill!” Dipper pointed to the possessed man who only laughed.

“Well hello to you too Pine Tree.  I see you’re doing well after our last encounter!”

“Mabel what are you doing, that’s Bill, our sworn enemy and destroyer of the world!”

“Dipper I…”

“She was just about to make a deal with me.  Nothing big, I get her body and she gets her friend back.”

“Mabel are you crazy?  You know what he did last time he had a body, let a lone when he possessed me!”

“I know!” Mabel stamped her foot. “But he’s got Grenda.  What else am I supposed to do.”

Sherman looked up from catching his breath.  “Take me instead then.”

“What?” The twins cried out in surprise.

“I know you’re looking to break the barrier and you know I’m the only one who can do it.  Leave my grandkids alone and take me instead.”

Marius laughed again.  “Take you?  You’re just an old man, your power would barely put a dent in the barrier.  My deal is with Shooting Star here, no one else.”

“But Mabel’s just a normal girl!” Dipper called out. 

“Oh man are you dumb.” Marius rubbed his eyes with his free hand.  “You really think that Shooting Star is just your average normal girl.  Man, you haven’t been paying attention to her at all, then again you never did.”

“What are you…”

“Alright Shooting Star, no more games.  Do we have a deal or not?”  Marius reached out again.

Mabel looked at her brother and grandpa again then to Grenda who just stared at her quietly.  She clenched her fists tightly as she looked down at the ground.

“I’m sorry Dipper.  I would do anything to save my friends.”

“Mabel wait!” Dipper shouted as Mabel reached out and took Marius’ hand.  A brilliant flash of light blinded them all for a second, then faded.  Their eyes adjusting again they saw a much different sight than before.

Marius’ body was limp on the ground, his eyes closed and Grenda was still kneeling on her knees. Mabel stood still, her head still looking to the ground. She looked like she was crying, or chuckling, neither of the two knew.

“Mabel?  Are you alright?”  Dipper asked as he slowly approached his sister.

“Oh wow!” Mabel looked up at Dipper, her eyes slits and yellow from Bill’s possession. “Why did I not do this before?  This is wonderful!” He let out a laugh as Dipper stopped short.

“Bill!  Get out of my sister this instant!”  Dipper prepared himself.  If he had to fight his sister to save her he would.  Bill only smirked in his sisters’ body.

“Oh, you think you can take her?”  A glow began to form around her body, a rainbow colored aura. “Well think again Pine Tree!”  Her body slowly started to levitate off of the ground.  “Now _this_ is the power I’ve been dreaming of!”

“What the heck?  Dipper stepped back as his sister looked at him, her eyes now white with electricity.

“Dipper get back!” Sherman shouted to his grandson as Dipper fell back. 

“What’s happening to her?” He asked his grandfather.  “This never happened when he possessed me!”

“I can’t believe this.  Dipper, I think your sister has the same powers that I do.”

“You can fly?”

Sherman shook his head.  “No, this… this is on a much greater scale than I’ve ever seen.”

“What do we do?” Dipper worriedly looked between his grandfather and sister, who was now several feet in the air.

“I don’t think there is anything we can do.”  Sherman looked at his granddaughter, unable to muster anything that might help them.  “I think we’re too late.”

Neither of the two could do anything as they watched Mabel laugh while floating in the air.  A wicked smile curled around her lips as she raised up and arm, touching the barrier as it shimmered at her fingers.

“I suppose it’s time to take care of this!” With a flick of her wrist the barrier shattered like a glass dome. 

Mabel slowly floated to the ground, her stance exhausted from the exertion.  Sherman saw his chance.  Mustering up all of the willpower and control he could over his power he pushed himself at the demon possessing his granddaughter.

Bill’s mind fought back but the stress of breaking the barrier had weakened him temporarily.  “Get out of my GRANDDAUGHTER!” Sherman shouted as his astral self threw the demon from the girl.  Breathing heavily, he watched as Mabel collapsed to the ground.  “Dipper, Grab those two quickly and get in the car, we need to leave NOW!”  He shouted as he grabbed Mabel.

Dipper nodded as he ran over to Grenda and Marius’ still unconscious body.  “Grenda, I’ll get you out of there, just give me a second.  We’ve got to get out of here, now!”

Dipper reached for the dagger but as he did Grenda flexed her muscles and shredded the ropes binding her.  Pulling the gag from her mouth she grabbed Marius’ body.  “OKAY! LET’S GO!”

“I… But…” Dipper looked down at the dagger.  “I give up.” Throwing it away he ran to his grandfather’s car and hopped in.  Once they had strapped the unconscious people in Sherman hit the gas and turned back into town.

“What’s going to happen now?” Dipper asked Sherman as they drove back to town. 

Sherman shook his head.  “I don’t know Dipper… I don’t know.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Journal Excerpt: August 26, 2022:  I couldn’t believe it.  We saw them today.  They looked just like we did ten years ago.  I was afraid they’d recognize us but no, they just fixed their time machine and disappeared again.  An almost sad glimpse of our past selves, yet it gives me a glimmer of hope.  Mabel and I never traveled to the future like this or I would have remembered.  There must be something different about them and I’ve got an idea as to what.


End file.
